PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL 


FREEDMAN’S  COMMISSION. 


OOCA  SIGNAL  PAPLL. 


JANUARY,  18GC.  ^ 


BOSTON: 

Press  of  Geo.  C.  Rand  & Avery,  3 Cornhill. 
I860. 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL 


FREEDMAN’S  COMMISSION. 


OCCASIONAL  PAPER 


JANUAKY,  1866. 


BOSTON: 

Press  of  Geo.  C.  Rand  & Avery,  3 Cornhill. 
1 866. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/protestantepiscoOOepis 


\ 


INTRODUCTION. 

At  a meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Protestant- 
Episcopal  Church,  held  at  St.  Luke’s  Church,  Philadelphia,  on 
the  evening  of  Oct.  5,  1865,  it  was  resolved  that  so  much 
of  the  Report  of  the  Domestic  Committee  as  relates  to  the 
freedmen  of  the  South  be  referred  to  a committee  of  seven. 
The  following  committee  was  appointed  : — 

The  Bishops  of  North  Carolina  and  Illinois,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Wharton,  Rev.  Dr.  Quintard,  Rev.  Dr.  Mahan,  and  Messrs. 
Churchill  and  Huntington. 

•At  a meeting  of  the  Board  held  at  St.  Luke’s  Church  on  the 
evening  of  Oct.  13,  the  following  resolutions  on  the  report  of 
the  Committee  were  unanimously  adopted  : — 

Resolved  (1),  That  the  Constitution  of  this  Society  be  so 
amended  as  to  authorize  the  appointment,  during  the  will 
of  this  Board,  of  a commission,  to  be  called  the  “ Protes- 
taxt-Episcopal  Freedman’s  Commission,”  to  whom  shall  be 
committed  the  religious  and  other  instruction  of  the  freed- 
men; said  commission  to  meet  quarterly,  a majority  to  be 
a quorum,  with  authority  to  appoint  a secretary,  and  gen- 
eral agent,  and  treasurer ; and  to  constitute,  as  its  geueral 
representative,  with  full  power  to  act  for  it  during  its  re- 
cess, an  executive  committee,  composed  of  such  of  its  mem- 
bers as  it  may  prescribe,  not  to  exceed  eight ; the  members 
of  said  executive  committee  to  be  ex  officio  members  of  the 
Board  of  Missions,  said  commission  to  be  governed  in  its 
actions  by  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  eleventh  article 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  Board. 

Resolved  (2),  Until  otherwise  ordered,  this  commission  shall 
consist  of  the  following  persons  : Rt.  Rev.  Bishops  Williams, 
Potter,  Odeuheimer,  Stevens;  Rev.  Drs.  Dix,  A.  H.  Vinton, 
Hawks,  E.  Washburne,  Littlejohn,  Haight,  Montgomery, 
Dyer,  Rev.  Edward  Anthon,  Rev.  Drs.  Diller,  Eccleston, 


4 


INTRODUCTION. 


ITowland  ; Messrs.  H.  Fish,  Rufjgles,  F.  S.  Winston,  John 
Welsh,  John  Bohlen,  George  I).  Morgan,  Robert  B.  Minturn, 
George  C.  Collin-!,  John  II.  Swift,  Stewart  Brown,  W.  H. 
Aspinwall,  John  Travers. 

Signed  for  Committee : 


On  motion.  Rev.  Drs.  Wharton  and  Huntington,  and  the 
Rev.  John  A.  Aspinwall,  were  added  to  the  Commission. 

It  was  then  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  the  first  resolution  connected  with  the  re- 
port be  approved  by  the  Board,  and  transmitted  to  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  for  their  action  thereon. 

At  a meeting  of  the  General  Convention,  at  St.  Andrew’s 
Church,  Philadelphia,  on  Wednesday,  Oct.  18,  the  proposed 
amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Board  of  Missions  was 
unanimously  passed  by  each  house. 

At  a meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  held  at  St.  Luke’s 
Church,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  the  following  pream- 
ble and  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  : — 

Whereas  The  General  Convention  has  enacted  the  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  of  this  Society  in  reference  to  freed- 
men  proposed  by  this  Board, 

Resolved,  That  the  gentlemen  heretofore  nominated  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Freedmen’s  Commission  be  hereby  appointed 
members  of  said  commission. 

The  Commission  met  at  the  rooms  of  the  Domestic  Commit- 
tee, New  York,  on  Friday,  Nov.  10.  The  following  mem- 
bers were  present : — 

Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Potter,  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Odenheimer,  and 
Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Stevens. 

Rev.  Drs.  Dix,  Dyer,  Eccleston,  Haight,  Howland,  Littlejohn, 
Montgomery,  A.  II.  Vinton,  Washburne,  Wharton;  Rev. 
Messi's.  Anthon  and  Aspinwall;  Messrs.  S.  Brown,  Minturn, 
Morgan,  Welsh,  and  Winston. 

Rev.  John  A.  Aspinwall  was  elected  Recording  Secretary  to 
the  Commission;  and  Rev.  Dr.  Wharton,  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary. Robert  B.  Minturn,  Esq.,  was  elected  Treasurer. 


Thomas  Atkinson. 
H.  J.  Whitehouse. 
C.  T.  Quintard. 
Milo  Mahan. 


Francis  Wharton. 
A.  II.  Churchill. 
S.  H.  Huntington. 


INTRODUCTION. 


5 


The  following  Executive  Committee  was  appointed  : — 

Rev.  Dr.  Haight,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  H.  Vinton,  Rev.  Dr.  Little- 
john, Rev.  Dr.  Eccleston,  Hamilton  Fish,  Esq.,  F.  S.  Winston, 
Esq.,  G.  D.  Morgan,  Esq.,  and  John  Welsh,  Esq. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  : — 

Resolved,  That  the  Executive  Committee  be  requested  to  open 
a correspondence  with  the  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishops  of  North 
Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  the  South-west,  and  with  other 
Southern  Bishops,  so  soon  as  the  way  shall  be  open  for  such 
communications,  and  make  of  them  a respectful  request  to 
be  favored  with  such  suggestions  as  they  may  be  inclined 
to  make  with  regard  to  the  best  methods  of  prosecuting 
the  work  for  which  this  Commission  was  created. 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  be  requested  to  direct  their 
attention,  as  their  main  object,  to  the  religious  and  secular 
instruction  and  j)hysical  relief  of  the  froedmen  of  the  South; 
it  being  within  tlieir  power  incidentally  to  aid  by  pecuniary 
grants  such  clergymen  as  are  engaged  in  the  teaching  of 
colored  persons. 

At  a subsequent  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  it 
was  resolved, — 

1.  — That  the  clergy  be  requested  to  take  up  a collection, 
in  aid  of  the  Commission,  on  the  coming  day  of  National 
Thanksgiving;  or,  if  this  interfere  with  diocesan  regulations, 
at  the  earliest  period  practicable. 

2.  — I'hat  contributions  of  clothing  be  earnestly  solicited 
to  meet  the  destitution  among  the  froedmen  that  now  exists. 

3.  — That  this  Commission  heartily  invites  the  formati(m  of 
auxiliary  societies,  diocesan  or  parochial,  to  aid  in  its  import- 
ant work. 

4.  — That  the  Corresponding  Secretary  be  requested  to  is- 
sue an  appeal,  stating  the  nature  and  objects  of  the  work  in 
which  the  Committee  is  engaged. 

At  a meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  held  in  New 
York,  on  Friday,  Dec.  15,  the  Rev.  J.  Brinton  Smith,  D.D., 
was  elected  General  Agent.  Hereafter,  all  applications  from 
teachers,  and  all  communications  as  to  supplies,  are  to  be  di- 
rected to  tlie  Rev.  J.  Brinton  Smith,  D.D.,  at  the  office  of 
the  Commission,  No.  10,  Bible  House,  N.Y.  Goods  for  Freed- 
men  to  be  forwarded  to  the  same  address. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Wharton  was,  on  the  same  day,  elected  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Committee,  in  place  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Eccleston,  resigned. 


ADDRESS 


BY  THE 

REV.  FRANCIS  WHARTON,  LL.D., 

PELIVKRED  IN 

<^t.  ^aul’si  ^v00UIinf,  auil  other  (Churchcsi, 

DUEING  THE  MONTH  OF  DECEMBER,  1805.* 


Br  the  unanimous  action  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  sanc- 
tioned and  authorized  by  the  equally  unanimous  action  of  the 
General  Convention,  a commission  has  been  instituted  for 
the  instruction  and  relief  of  the  ffeedmen  of  the  South.  As 
this  Commission  now  appeals  to  our  whole  Church  for  sympa- 
thy and  support,  it  is  here  proposed  to  set  forth  some  of  the 
grounds  by  which  its  institution  is  I'equired,  and  some  of 
the  principles  by  which  its  action  will  be  governed. 

EDUCATION  OP  FBEEDMEN  NEEDED  BY  THE  WHOLE  NATION. 

First  let  us  view  the  necessity  of  such  action,  as  required 
by  the  condition  of  the  freedmen  themselves.  Never  was  so 
large  a body  of  men  placed  in  a condition  so  critical,  both  as  to 
themselves  and  as  to  the  nation  of  which  they  are  part.  They 
comprise  a population  of  four  millions ; fora  number  of  years 
they  have  been  almost  the  sole  laborers  by  whom  our  South- 
ern fields  have  been  worked.  Without  them,  cotton  and  su- 
gar, for  instance,  could  not  have  been  produced  ; if  they  were 
not  the  only  laborers  who  could  have  borne  the  climate,  they 
were  certainly  the  only  laborers  on  the  spot  who  were  at 
hand  to  till  the  soil.  No  industrial  class  is  now  ready  to  take 
their  place ; yet,  without  some  competent  industrial  class,  not 

* This  address,  though  unoflieial,  will  be  of  use  iu  giving  informahon  on 
the  important  subject  of  which  it  treats. 


EDUCATION  OF  FREBDMEN  NEEDED  BY  WHOLE  NATION.  7 

merely  will  the  South  be  permanently  desolated,*  but  the 
prosperity,  the  peace,  the  solvency  of  the  whole  country  will 
be  seriously  shocked.  To  the  full  play  of  business  reciprocity 
between  the  several  distinct  staple-growing  sections  of  our 
diversified  land  must  we  look  for  the  liquidation  of  our  debt, 
and  the  restoration  of  our  prosperity  ; and,  besides  this,  unless 
a system  of  successful  labor,  with  its  products  of  comfort  and 
wealth  be  inaugurated  in  the  South,  that  section  will  be  sur- 
rendered to  political  discontent  and  disorder,  which  will  not 
merely  destroy  our  general  commercial  well-being, f but  will 
change  the  whole  character  of  our  political  institutions  from  a 
federal  republic  to  a military  centralization.  Yet,  in  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  freedmen,  these  dangers  are  very  immi- 
nent, unless  prompt  and  wise  remedial  action  be  taken.  They 
are  detached  from  the  ligatures,  which,  under  the  old  system, 
kept  them  at  work,  and  the  new  motives  of  intelligent  percep- 
tion, of  the  consciousness  of  the  necessity  of  labor,  and  of 
duty  impelling  to  it,  have  not  yet  been  formed.  By  the  old 
system,  Southern  labor  was  like  oars,  by  which,  under  the 
force  of  a superior  will,  the  boat  was  clumsily  propelled  ; the 
new  system  is  liko  the  steam-engine,  which,  when  once  fixed 
up,  will  apply  vastly  greater  power,  with  vastly  less  supervi- 
sory efibrt.  But  the  difficulty  is  that  we  have  taken  out  the 
oars,  and  not  yet  put  in  the  engine ; we  have  removed  from 
negro  labor  the  impetus  of  compulsion,  and  not  yet  applied  to 
it  the  impetus  of  intelligence  and  conscientious  motive ; and, 
unless  the  last  impetus  bo  applied,  we  can  expect  nothing  but 
wreck. 

PERIL  OF  NON-EDUCATION. 

Then,  again,  view  the  political  danger  to  our  land,  should 
they  remain  freedmen,  yet  with  minds  and  consciences  thus 
untaught  and  unilluminated.  A free  and  yet  ignorant  and 
debased  race  cannot  exist  in  the  vitals  of  the  body-politic 
without  the  most  fearful  risks.  Supposing, — if  we  dare  con- 
template such  a guilty  catastrophe  as  this  supposition  in- 
volves, — supposing'  that  like  the  Indians  they  are  ultimately 
to  perish,  under  the  torture  of  a civilization  which  clasps  but 
will  not  incorporate  or  elevate.  The  Indians  were  a nomadic 
race,  comparatively  few  in  numbers,  dwelling  on  our  out- 
skirts, instinctively  wandering  forth  to  die  where  their 
deaths  wrought  no  paroxysm  in  the  dominant  society,  and 
their  corruption  spread  no  infection.  But  the  negro  is  not 
nomadic ; he  refuses  to  wander  from  his  old  homes ; there 
have  these  four  millions  of  human  beings  lived,  and  there  will 


♦ See  appendix  A 


f See  appendix  B. 


8 


NEGEO  CAPABLE  OP  EDUCATION. 


they  die.  If  they  die  from  demoralization  and  degradation, 
their  death,  — the  death  of  this  living  organism  permeating 
every  core  and  fibre  of  our  land ; the  very  presence  of  this 
dying,  diseased  mass  in  each  point  and  pore  of  our  system, — 
this  cannot  but  be  degradation  and  debasement,  if  not  death, 
to  ourselves.  No  nation  can  be  prosperous,  or  healthy,  or 
free,  that  palpitates  with  such  death-throes  as  these,  and  incor- 
porates such  a polluting,  dying  presence. 

Or,  take  the  other  alternative,  and  suppose  that  they  do  not 
die  out;  but  that  they  continue  to  live,  — live  free,  with  the 
power  of  doing  what  they  choose,  without  the  motive  or  the 
capacity  of  self-support.  No  nation,  Avithout  social  revolutions 
the  most  stupendous,  can  include  in  its  bounds  a population 
which  is  at  once  free  and  yet  has  nothing  to  bind  it  up  in 
social  sympathy  and  business  intercommunion  with  the  classes 
by  which  the  land  is  controlled,  and  which  is  without  the  ca- 
pacity of  intelligent  industry,  Avhere  intelligent  industry  alone 
can  secure  a support.  Such  men,  brutish  through  ignorance, 
and  maddened  through  poverty,  Avould  form  a constant  insur- 
gent element,  as  untamable  as  fire,  ready  to  be  kindled  by 
the  first  frantic  impulse  within,  or  the  first  insidious  instiga- 
tion from  without.  They  must  be  elevated  to  self-support  and 
self-control,  and  to  a wise,  intelligent,  and  loyal  citizenship, 
if  we  would  protect  our  country,  and  especially  our  Southern 
country,  from  the  constant  danger  of  revolt.  The  negro,  if 
free,  intelligent,  and  conscientious,  will  contribute  to  restore 
our  country  to  a prosperity  and  vigor  and  moral  dignity  here- 
tofore unapproaclied ; free,  but  uneducated,  he  will  not  only 
corrupt,  but  shatter  our  whole  social  fabric. 

NEGRO  CAPABLE  OF  EDUCATION. 

But  is  the  freedman  capable  of  the  cultivation  here  in- 
voked ? This  grave  question  let  us  next  consider. 

And  remember,  in  considering  it,  that  it  is  not  disputed ; 
that  centuries  of  barbarism,  followed  by  centuries  of  slavery, 
have  deposited  over  the  intellectual  structure  of  the  negro  a 
crust  Avhich  it  may  take  generations  wholly  to  remove.  And 
it  should  be  remembered,  also,  that  the  immediata  issue  is 
not  their  present  homogeneousness  of  intellect  with  the  white 
race,  but  simply  their  capacity  to  become  intelligent,  Chris- 
tian, self-supporting,  and  self-directing  members  of  that  great 
industrial  community,  of  which  three-fourths  of  our  population 
are  already  composed. 

Nor  is  it  disputed  that  there  are  certain  characteristics  of 
barbarism  and  slavery  which  will  imprint  themselves  on  any 
people  on  which  they  press.  Those  who  are  subject  to  arbi- 
trary rule,  will  take  to  lying;  those  who  have  no  right  to  hold 


NEGRO  CAPABLE  OF  EDUCATION. 


9 


property,  will  not  bo  particular  as  to  property’s  more  refined 
distinctions ; those  who  cannot  turn  their  labor  to  their  own 
account,  will  not  trouble  themselves  by  working  more  than 
they  are  actually  compelled.  Nor  is  it  disputed  that  it  may 
take  time  to  eli’ace  the  characteristics  thus  stamped  ; all  that 
is  claimed  is,  that  they  are  the  result  of  a peculiar  social  sys- 
tem, and  that,  when  that  system  is  remov-ed,  they  will  sooner 
or  later  disappear. 

But  what  is  here  asserted  is,  that  the  negro  race  has  in  it, 
aside  from  these  accidents,  the  elements  which  make  up  an 
intelligent,  Christian,  selfdirectiug  and  selfelevating  indus- 
trial class  ; and  to  some  of  the  grounds  on  which  this  assertion 
rests,  let  us  now  turn. 

ms  CAPACITY  ORDAINED  BY  GOD. 

And  first,  we  all  admit  that  the  negro  race  flows  from 
the  same  original  source  as  our  own;  and  that,  as  the  several 
streams  which  make  up  human  society  have,  under  God’s 
providence,  diverged,  so  they  may  be  made  to  converge,  under 
the  same  divine  will.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  it  was  all 
mankind  which  was  originally  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and 
that  that  image  is  borne  by  the  blacks  as  well  as  by  ourselves. 

So,  in  the  next  place,  must  we  hold  that  the  temporal  as 
well  as  the  spiritual  promises  of  revelation  apply  to  black  as 
well  as  to  white:  ‘‘As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  bo  made  alive.”  Nor  is  this  all.  “They,”  — so  the 
whole  body  of  the  redeemed  are  spoken  of,  — “ they  shall  not 
build,  and  another  inhabit;  they  shall  not  plant,  and  another 
eat ; for  as  the  days  of  a tree  are  the  days  of  my  people,  and 
mine  elect  shall  long  enjoy  the  work  of  their  hands.”  We 
cannot  exclude  the  negro  from  the  range  of  promises  which 
these  represent,  without  excluding  ourselves. 

AND  PROVED  BY  HISTORY. 

So,  also,  we  must  admit  that  in  the  fluctuations  of  races  there 
have  been  eras  in  which  tlie  African  exhibited,  while  our  own 
ancesters  gave  no  trace  of,  those  very  capacities  for  intelligent, 
self-supporting  industry,  to  which  we  now  appeal.  Thus, 
among  the  most  stupendous  monuments  of  skilful  labor  which 
the  earth  retains,  still  reposes  the  bust  of  Memnon,  regally 
presiding  as  if  among  its  own  creations,  yet  with  its  very 
countenance  marked  by  those  African  peculiarities  which  we 
now  associate  with  brutishness  and  incapacity.  So  among  the 
hierogl3’phics,  which  first  expressed  thought  in  words,  and 
which  taught  lessons  to  Greece  and  Rome  when  our  ancestors 
were  roaming  the  forests  of  iliddle  Europe  in  a savage  ignor- 
ance as  brutish  as  that  of  the  present  African,  — intertwined 


10  EDUCATION  A PACIFIER  AND  RENOVATOR, 

inextricably  among  these  hieroglyphics,  as  if  incapable  of  dis- 
sociation from  them,  is  the  profile  of  this  same  African  face. 
And  while  subsequent  centuries  have  shown  that  these  facul- 
ties have  become  largely  dormant,  it  is  very  clear  that  they 
have  not  become  extinct.  The  New  Testament  brings  to  our 
notice,  as  if  to  classify  this  race  among  both  the  subjects  and 
actors  of  early  Christian  civilization,  an  Ethiopian  who  was 
possessed  not  merely  of  cultivation,  but  of  rank  requiring 
considerable  executive  gifts ; and  from  time  to  time  men  of 
negro  blood  have  been  eminent  as  bishops,  as  captains,  and  as 
masters  both  of  fiction  and  of  the  exact  sciences.  Even  now 
we  have  a Liberian  republic,  which  has  been  governed  for  the 
last  twenty  years  with  a sagacity  and  success  which  at  least 
the  South  American  governments  cannot  surpass ; and  we 
have  at  this  moment  a negro  bishop  of  Anglican  consecra- 
tion, presiding  with  great  good  sense  and  energy  over  an 
African  diocese ; and  a negro  clergyman,  of  singular  elo- 
quence and  tact,  addressing  the  congregations  of  our  own 
land.  — If  we  see  iron  ore  yellowing  the  side  of  a distant  hill ; 
if  by  that  hill-side  we  see  majestic  structures  which  this  very 
iron  served  to  knit ; if  we  find  the  same  vein  running,  under- 
ground though  it  may  be,  to  the  spot  where  we  stand,  we 
cannot  doubt  that  now,  with  proper  care,  this  same  ore 
can  be  worked  up  to  the  same  purposes  for  which  it  was  for- 
merly so  elfcctively  employed.  And  even  though  now  the 
outcroppings  of  negro  power  be  but  occasional,  yet  here  is  the 
race,  and  there  are  its  past  achievements,  and  there,  at  the 
beginning,  was  its  common  origin  with  ourselves  ; and  here  is 
the  very  hand  of  Providence,  pointing  us  to  the  very  work  of 
restoration,  for  which  we  thus  have  both  materials  and  pat- 
tern.* 

EDUCATION  A PACIFIER  AND  RENOVATOR. 

Nor  can  we  examine  the  condition  of  the  freedraan  now, 
without  seeing  in  him  a peculiar  readiness  for  that  very  kind 
of  restoration  which  would  make  him  our  fit  co-worker  in  the 
building  up  both  of  State  and  Church.  In  the  modulations  of 
races,  as  of  climates.  Providence  may  welt  be  supposed  to  es- 
tablish such  a diversity  in  unity  as  may  bring  out  a more  com- 
plete and  healthy  interchange  and  development  of  labor  than, 
identity  of  occupation  and  temperament  would  produce  ; and 
this  diversity  we  perceive  here.  In  our  own  race,  we  notice 
force  of  character,  enterprise,  stubbornness,  high  inventive- 
ness, great  restlessness  in  the  seeking  out  and  occupation  of 
new  fields,  as  well  as  a physical  inability  to  pursue  labor  under 
a tropical  sky.  In  the  African,  we  see  docility,  remarkable 


* See  Appendix  C. 


EDUCATION  MUST  BE  PRACTICAL  AND  SECULAR. 


11 


skill  in  imitation  and  reproduction  from  a given  type,  an  over- 
weening attachment  to  its  old  sites,  a perfect  content  in  almost 
monotonous  perseverance  in  application  to  a particular  round 
of  pursuits,  and  a capacity  to  labor  in  climates  which  white 
industry  cannot  endure.  And,  in  the  common  base  from  which 
these  diverging  types  spring,  this  same  feature  of  variety  rising 
from  unity  appears.  We  cannot  look  at  the  schools  where  the 
children  of  both  races  are  respectively  taught,  without  seeing 
that  the  negro  child,  so  far  as  concerns  the  reception  of  the 
primary  branches  of  education,  is  not  behind  those  of  our  own 
color,  whose  home  advantages  have  been  as  slight.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  negro’s  immediate  capacity  for  high  speculative 
thought  does  not  here  arise,  and  may  well  be  deferred  to 
future  experience ; but,  as  far  as  concerns  his  capacity  for 
what  is  necessary  for  his  own  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare, 
and  the  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare  of  our  country,  the 
record  is  clear.  Capacity  of  this  kind  he  has  from  God  in 
common  with  ourselves ; capacity  of  this  kind  has  been 
abundantly  shown  in  the  past ; the  susceptibility  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  this  capacity  he  shows  now.  If  there  be  a diver- 
sity, as  contrasted  with  ourselves,  in  the  way  in  which  this  ca- 
pacity develops  itself,  such  diversity  only  tells  in  favor  of 
future  prosperity  and  peace.  It  diminishes  collision  ; it  ex- 
hibits each  race  as  in  part  the  complement  of  the  other ; it 
gives  to  each  race  that  in  the  aid  of  the  other  which  it  itself 
needs  ; it  tends  the  better  to  energize  and  refine  and  elevate 
them  while  at  the  same  time  strengthening  and  steadying  us ; 
it  is  the  best  restorer  of  social  sympathy  and  peace.* 

THE  KIND  OF  EDUCATION  NEEDED. 

What,  then,  is  the  education  wo  should  seek  to  impart?  is  the 
next  question  to  which  we  are  to  address  ourselves.  And  I 
need  not  say  that  this  education  must  be  twofold : it  must  be 
secular,  so  as  to  stimulate  the  self-supporting  and  self-elevating 
powers ; and  it  must  be  religious,  so  as  to  give  resoluteness 
and  enlightenment  to  conscience,  and  to  extend  by  the  con- 
version of  souls  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  Je.sus  Christ.  No 
education,  in  the  position  in  which  the  freedman  now  finds 
himself,  would  be  adequate  without  embracing  the  first  of 
these  heads. 

MUST  BE  PRACTICAL  AND  SECULAR. 

We  are  apt  to  smile  at  political  economy;  but  that  form 
of  political  economy  which  is  instinctive  in  the  Anglo-Amer- 
ican, — that  sort  of  second  nature  which  teaches  us  as  a 

* See  Appendix  D. 


12 


AND  ALSO  POSITIVELY  CHRISTIAN. 


race  that  labor  will  find  a market,  and  a market  will  find 
labor  ; which  enables  us  to  seize  for  ourselves  and  impart  to 
others  that  taste  for  the  comforts  of  civilization  which  makes 
those  comfoi'ts  essential  to  universal  social  life,  and  thus  ex- 
tends the  domains  of  industry,  and  refines  its  ingenuit}"  and  in- 
tensifies its  stimulus,  — the  home  political  economy  which 
prompts  us  all  to  work  each  day  the  longer  and  the  more  skil- 
fully, so  that  a higher  degree  of  education,  and  an  ampler  scale 
of  comfort  may  be  ours,  — in  this  kind  of  political  economy 
must  the  negro  be  taught.  He  must  thus  learn  the  need  of  la- 
bor to  himself,  and  he  must  learn  the  misery  which  idleness 
breeds,  and  he  must  learn  the  modes  by  which  labor  can  be 
most  skilful  and  most  effective,  not  merel}’  in  the  field  or 
workshop,  but  in  the  extension  of  the  comforts  of  his  own 
home.  And  what  we  would  do  with  our  children,  did  we 
wish  to  make  labor  attractive  to  them,  we  must  do  to  this,  the 
nation’s  child,  — this  child  whose  welfare  is  as  essential  to 
us  as  to  himself.  We  must  create  refined  tastes  and  refined 
intellectual  cravings,  so  that  the  fruits  of  knowledge,  as  well 
as  the  burdens  and  grief  of  knowledge, may  be  his  ; so  that  the 
new  cares  of  labor  and  self-support  thus  opened  may  be  bright- 
ened by  recreation  and  ennobled  by  intellectual  growth. 

AND  HOST  ALSO  BE  POSITIVELY  CHRISTIAN. 

And  then,  as  to  the  second  form  wdiich  the  education  of  the 
freedman  should  assume,  as  an  indispensable  need,  must  the 
positive  truths  of  the  gospel  be  imparted,  and  this  through 
conservative  and  stable  agencies.  How,  without  illuminating 
the  conscience,  and,  in  the  thunders  of  the  revealed  word,  ex- 
hibiting the  reh'ibutions  of  eternity, — how,  except  by  uniting 
to  those  thunders  the  pleadings  of  Him  who  died  for  us  on  the 
tree,  — how  else  can  you  plant  among  this  people,  now  as  it 
were  without  law,  eitlier  within  or  above  themselves,  the  jirin- 
ciples  of  morality  without  which  they  cannot  ever  exist  ? The 
gospel,  besides  the  day-school,  is  economically  needed  to  stim- 
ulate to  industr}’ ; to  teach  that  the  idler  is  condemned  by 
God  ; but  the  gospel  is  needed  for  something  more.  Remem- 
ber, for  instance,  how  essential  is  the  sanctity  of  marriage  to 
a people’s  health  and  integrity  and  growth  ; and  remember 
how  imperfectly  regarded  was  this  sanctity  by  this  people  in 
days  past.  Scrutinize  the  speculative  philosophy  floated  down 
to  them  by  the  present  humanitarian  propagandism  of  our 
own  North.  Analyze  this  philosophy  ; see  whether  it  is  not  im- 
bued not  merely  with  scepticism  as  to  all  divine  sanctions, 
but  with  supercilious  contempt  of  the  most  precious  of  the 
institutions  by  which  we  hedge  in  domestic  lile.  Misty  as 


PERIL  OF  SCEPTICAL  TEACHING. 


13 


this  philosophy  is,  yet  from  it  drops  of  poison  liquefy  and 
exude,  which  raa}’-  corrode  and  sever  tlie  few  ligatures  of  home 
fidelity  by  which  this  unhappy  people  are  still  restrained. 
Add  to  this  the  influence  of  the  presence  of  alternate  armies, 
— that  influence  which  is  one  of  the  most  feariul  elements  of 
war,  — and  you  can  conceive  that  it  needs  the  full  teaching 
of  the  revelation  of  God,  — a revelation  in  the  tenderness  of 
Calvary  and  the  terrors  of  Sinai,  to  establish  the  imperative- 
ness of  that  marriage  sanctity  to  which,  as  a single  branch  of 
Christian  ethics,  I now  tor  illustration  refer.  Yet,  if  home, 
if  marriage,  if  the  nurture  and  tutelage  of  children,  if  the 
decorousness  and  forethought  which  these  involve,— if  those 
principles  be  not  implanted  with  the  most  awful  of  sanctions 
in  the  negro  race,  what  results  can  we  expect  but  vagrancy, 
and  disease,  and  pollution,  and  ruin,  and  death?* 

And  then,  rising  from  the  illustration  to  the  principle,  wo 
ascend  to  contemplate  the  full  motive  power  to  right  action 
which  the  gospel  of  Christ  alone  can  supply.  By  neither  com- 
pulsion nor  prudence  can  this  motive  power  be  produced. 
Compulsion  or  prudence  may  plant  a transient  and  superficial 
industry  on  our  land,  like  those  canvas  villages  and  trees 
which  w'ere  unfurled  on  the  roads  over  which  the  Russian 
empress  travelled,  and  which,  when  the  pageant  passed  on, 
were  removed.  But  institutions  which  are  real,  which  have 
an  abiding  base,  wdiich  will  remain  steadfast  while  the  awful 
pomp  of  eternity  marches  on,  — these  must  be  founded  on  the 
resolutions  of  a spiritualized  heart,  resting  on  no  temporary 
pressure  or  transient  policy,  but  on  a sincere  reverence  to  an 
immutable  God.  Constraint  or  prudence  may  coerce,  but  can- 
not regenerate  ; may  push  to  the  temporary  eftbrt,  but  cannot 
lead  to  the  remote  end  ; may  insert  in  us  a transient  mechanism, 
but  cannot  inspire  a selt-determining  soul.  But  the  gospel 
gives  purpose  and  strength,  and  in  the  atonement  of  the  Sa- 
viour, and  in  the  sureness  of  his  grace,  supplies  the  stimulus 
and  the  power  of  vigorous  and  holy  life.  It  nerves  the  soul,be 
its  human  accidents  what  they  may,  with  a man’s  vigor,  and 
graces  it  with  a saint’s  pardon,  and  wdngs  it  with  a seraph’s 
strength,  and  speeds  it  to  God’s  own  home.  It  is  a gospel 
which  we  dare  not  hold  back  from  this  unhappy  people,  if  we 
value  our  country’s  safely,  and  if  we  would  ourselves  hope  to 
stand,  without  one  of  the  most  awful  judgments  ever  pro- 
nounced upon  a church,  before  the  Saviour’s  bar.  Because 
thy  brother  was  dying,  and  thou  wouldst  not  relieve  ; there- 
fore is  death  to  come  upon  thee.  There  may  be  a vicarious 


See  Appendix  EL 


14 


THIS  THE  WISEST  FORM  OF  AGENCY. 


spiritual  death  of  the  wrong-doer  in  the  place  of  those  whose 
misery  he  would  not  relieve  ; there  may  be  prosperity  with 
him  here,  while  in  the  wronged  there  may  be  wretchedness  ; 
but  his  hereafter  may  be  the  desolation  they  have  now.  God 
grant  that  this  vicarious  suffering  may  not  be  ours.  Yet  how 
dare  we  offer  this  prayer,  if  we  withhold  the  bread  of  mercy 
and  the  bread  of  life  ? 


BY  WHAT  AGENCY? 

What,  then,  is  the  agency  by  which  our  Church  is  now  in- 
voked to  undertake  this  great  work  ? And  it  is  with  no  little 
satisfaction  that  I recur  to  the  fact  that  this  agency  is  not 
merely  churchly,  and  in  full  accordance  with  the  analogies  of 
an  ecclesiastical  structure,  but  that  it  is  in  conformity  with 
the  principles  invoked  by  tlie  national  Government,  through 
the  appeals  of  that  wise  Christian  soldier  who  now  heads  the 
Freedman’s  Bureau.* 

NOT  BY  ONE  OF  SOCIAL  DISINTEGRATION. 

No  system  of  instruction, — so  he  holds,  and  so  hold  we, — can 
be  successful,  which  is  based  on  social  distrust  or  antagonisms 
between  the  two  races  who  now  occupy  tbe  South.  Bitter 
conflicts  there  may  be,  and  surgings  upwards  of  brute  force, 
and  the  possible  final  calamity  of  a war  of  races  sympathet- 
ically permeating  the  whole  land,  ending  in  the  destruction  of 
the  weaker  ; but  not  that  equal,  quiet,  peaceful  growth  of  the 
industrial  and  intellectual  and  spiritual  faculties,  which  Chris- 
tianity as  well  as  true  national  policy  involves.  No  system 
of  instruction  can  be  so  successful  as  that  which  unites  the 
influence  of  the  old  religious  instructors  of  the  negro  with 
that  of  those  who  now  proceed  thither  from  our  own  Northern 
shores.  Nor  can  I refer  to  these,  the  negro’s  religious  in- 
structors of  the  past,  without  saying  that  their  fidelity  then, 
is  the  highest  pledge  of  their  fidelity  now.  Among  them  were 
some  of  the  most  devoted  missionaries  the  Church  ever  knew  ; 
to  them  now  the  heart  of  the  freedman  almost  exclusively  ap- 
peals when  seeking  consolation  in  sorrow,  or  for  rites  to  bless 
the  new-born  child,  or  bury  his  dead.  And  this  is  the  influ- 
ence that  seeks  to  welcome  us  in  our  work.f 


• See  Appendix  F. 


t See  Appendix  G. 


MISERY  AND  RUIN  APPEALING  FOR  OUR  AID. 


15 


BUT  BY  ONE  UNITING  RELIGIOUS  SANCTIONS  OP  NORTH  AND 

SOUTH. 

By  US,  in  the  North,  there  is  no  individuality  to  be  lost. 
Our  teachers  go  forth  as  teachers  from  the  North,  speaking 
with  tlie  authority  of  the  North,  breathing  those  principles 
which  make  labor  honorable,  and  which  associate  with  it  the 
right  of  progressive  self-elevation.  And  as  such  those  of  our 
own  communion  in  the  South  receive  us,  glad,  so  they  tell  us,  to 
see  thus  summoned  the  several  energies  needed  for  the  regen- 
eration of  the  unhappy  race  of  which  they,  with  us,  are  the 
trustees,  and  with  whose  welfare  their  own  welfare  is  so 
closely  combined.  And  so  it  will  be  that,  while  retaining  our 
own  distinctiveness  as  to  the  tone  and  mode  of  secular  teach- 
ing, we  will  not  proceed  to  the  field  as  agents  of  social  antago- 
nism, and  of  those  race  animosities  which  will  turn  schools 
into  sepulchres,  but  as  men  appointed  to  heal  and  cement, 
as  well  as  to  instruct.  Our  mission  is  thus  to  teach  in  the  only 
way  in  which  teaching  can  be  either  efficient  or  salutary;  it 
is,  by  the  very  sanction  and  organism  of  our  teaching,  to  use, 
for  the  elevation  of  the  freedmen,  the  religious  influence  of 
the  whole  land ; it  is,  therefcn-e,  while  elevating  the  freed- 
man,  to  establish,  not  distrust  and  hostility,  but  confidence  and 
harmony  between  them  and  those  of  our  own  race  with  whom 
they  are  appointed  to  dwell. 

MISERY  AN*D  RUIN  APPEALING  FOR  OUR  AID. 

And  so  it  is  that  our  Church  as  a whole,  as  well  as  our  na- 
tion as  a whole,  sanction  us  as  we  undertake  this  momentous 
work.  We  have  with  us  addresses  from  the  clergy  of  the 
South  breathing  the  very  spirit,  and  using  not  a few  of  the 
points,  on  which  this  argument  rests  ; but  voices  come  to  us 
still  more  solemn  and  vehement.  In  the  trail  of  armies,  it 
is  not  merely  the  stately  Southern  temple  that  has  been  swept 
down  ; the  little  cabin  in  which  the  negro  worshipped  was 
regarded  with  even  less  reverence;  and, in  the  common  ruin, 
few  sanctuaries  now  remain  where  this  people  can  assemble 
to  worship  the  Triune  God.  No  interdict  of  papal  tyranny 
has  been  more  awful  than  the  spiritual  interdict  uttered  by 
this  war.  Bell  and  book,  as  it  iverc,  forbidden  by  the  trum- 
pet’s peal  and  the  cannon’s  roar ; the  rites  of  marriage  unsol- 
emnized ; the  altar  profaned;  the  pulpit  silenced ; the  child 
unbaptized ; and  unburied  the  dead.  Nor,  in  the  spread  of 
material  ruin,  is  it  the  once  powerful  and  rich  who  have  suf- 


16 


MISERY  AND  RUIN  APPEALING  FOR  OUR  AID. 


fered  alone.  It  is  on  the  slaves  that  the  common  ruin  has  fallen 
in  the  most  devastating  and  sharpest  power.*  They  have  been 
the  spoil  of  spoils;  on  them,  the  waifs  of  humanity,  cast  off  from 
the  protective  care  of  all,  has  the  full  storm  been  spent.  In  a 
single  case  reported  to  us,  among  the  children  of  a plantation, 
who  before  this  dispersion  numbered  over  fifty,  it  has  now  been 
ascertained  that  there  is  not  one  who  has  not  since  died  from 
disease  or  neglect.  By  an  official  report  of  the  Freedman’s 
Bureau,  it  is  estimated,  that,  unless  adequate  relief  be  supplied, 
thirty  thousand  will  perish  in  Georgia,  forty  thousand  in  Ala- 
bama, in  the  winter  that  now  sets  in.  Huddled  together  in 
camps,  or  in  the  unhealthiest  recesses  of  cities  ; fevered  and 
prostrated  by  the  delusive  expectation  of  a political  millennium 
in  whose  solaces  their  broken  hearts  may  find  peace,  and  their 
weary  limbs  rest ; exercising  no  care  over  themselves  or  their 
young,  — they  are  corrupting,  they  are  perishing,  they  have 
perished  in  hundreds  of  thousands  from  utter  misery  and 
want;  they  will  so  perish  still.  These,  — dying  Christless,  we 
standing  by  with  closed  hands,  — we  must  meet  before  the 
throne ; and  the  living,  in  their  wretchedness,  plead  and 
wrestle  with  us  now.  From  these  ruined  sanctuaries,  from 
these  haunts  where  the  race  is  dying  before  our  eyes,  the 
awful  form  of  Him  with  the  eyes  of  flame  arises  to  ask  us 
who  will  go  forth  on  this  work  of  mercy  ? who  will  give  them 
prayers  and  aid  ? j^lillions  went  forth  at  the  call  of  war ; and 
countless  was  the  treasure  by  which  they  were  supplied.  Who 
will  now  be  ready,  by  the  gospel  of  peace,  to  save  this  per- 
ishing people?  who  to  save  ourselves? 


* See  appendix  H. 


APPENDIX 


Appendix  A. 

NECESSITY  OF  INDUSTRIAL  ACTIVITY  TO  THE  SOUTH. 

Gov.  Parsons,  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  Nov.  13, 1865. 

It  is  difficult  with  laugnage  to  portray  tlie  devastation  which  war,  especially  civil  war, 
produces,  so  as  to  furnisli  an  adequate  idea  of  its  effects.  To  rcaiize  tliem  you  must  witness 
them ; to  comprehend  them  ftilly,  you  must  live  upon  the  theatre,  and  witness  the  advance 
and  the  retreat  of  vast  armies,  listen  to  the  roar  of  battle,  and  see  those  who  are  left  upon 
the  Held  after  the  retreat;  you  must  see  lields  laid  waste,  farm-iiouses,  cotton-presses,  and 
gins  in  ruins;  you  must  see  towns  and  cities  in  flames,  to  form  any  thing  like  an  adequate 
idea  of  wiiat  war  in  reality  is.  You,  whose  fortune  it  iias  been  to  see  oniy  the  regiment 
with  colors  streaming,  the  recipients  of  all  the  kindness  and  watchful  cure  that  friends 
could  bestow,  as  they  left  for  the  scene  of  battle,  can  form  no  conception  of  the  appearance 
of  that  regiment  after  the  battle  is  over,  unless,  indeed,  it  has  been  your  fortune  to  be  on 
the  scene  of  action,  or  so  near  it  that  your  house  has  been  crowded  with  those  who  have 
become  victims  of  the  strife.  It  will  bo  in  your  recollection,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that 
during  the  last  of  March,  and  in  April,  the  Kcbcllion  suddenly  collapsed.  At  that  time 
pubiic  attention  in  tiie  North  was  doubtiess  turned  mainiy  to  tlie  operations  around  Rich- 
mond, and  to  those  whicli  attended  the  movements  of  the  vast  armies  of  Gen.  Sherman. 
But  it  also  happened  that  Gen.  Wilson,  with  a iarge  force  of  cavalry,  some  seventeen 
thousand,  I believe,  in  number,  commenced  a movement  from  the  Tennessee  River,  and  a 
point  in  the  north-west  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  diagonally  across  the  State,  lie  pene- 
trated to  the  centre,  and  then  radiated  from  Selma  in  every  direction  through  one  of  the 
most  productive  regions  of  the  South.  The  defences  of  that  little  city  of  about  ten  tliousand 
inhabitants  were  carried  by  assault  on  one  of  the  first  Sunday  evenings  in  last  April,  sun 
about  an  hour  high It  was  thought  necessary  by  the  com- 

manding general  to  reduce  and  subdue  the  spirit  of  Rebellion.  For  one  week  the  forces 
under  Gen.  Wilson  occupied  that  iittie  town,  and  night  after  night,  and  day  after  day,  one 
public  building  after  another,  first  the  arscuai,  then  the  foundry,  each  of  which  covered 
about  eight  or  nine  acres  of  ground,  and  was  conducted  upon  a scaie  commensurate  with 
the  demand  that  military  supplies  for  war  created;  railroad  depots,  machine  shops  con- 
nected with  them,  every  thing  of  that  description  whicii  iiad  been  in  any  decree  subser- 
vient to  the  cause  of  the  licbellion,  was  iaid  in  ashes.  Out  of  some  sixty-odd  brick  stores 
in  tiie  city,  forty-nine,  I tliiiik,  were  consumed.  On  the  line  of  march,  you  were  scarcely 
out  of  siglit  of  some  indication  of  its  terribleconsequences.  Indeed,  after  three  weeks  had 
elapsed,  it  was  with  dilliculty  you  could  travel  the  road  from  I’lantersville  to  that  city,  so 
offensive  was  the  atmosphere  in  consequence  of  decaying  horses  and  mules  that  lay  along 
the  road-side.  Every  description  of  ruin  except  tlie  interred  dead  of  the  human  family  met 
the  eye.  I witnessed  it  myself.  The  fact  is  that  no  description  can  equal  the  reality. 
When  the  Federal  forces  left  that  little  town,  which  is  built  on  a bluff  on  the  Alabama 
River,  they  crossed  on  a pontoon  bridge,  .and  commented  in  the  night  to  cross,  and  their 
way  was  lighted  by  burning  warehouses  standing  on  the  shore.  All  this  is  a part  of  war, 
a part  of  tliat  severe  discipline  which  nations  e.xperience,  and  must  expect  to  share  as  the 
fortunes  of  war  vary,  when  they  lay  aside  reason  and  appeal  to  brute  force  to  settle  what 
reason  should  settle,  among  Christian  people  certainly,  and  especially  tliose  who  are  born 
beneath  the  same  flag.  [Applause.]  At  the  time  of  these  great  occurrences  to  wliich  I 
at  tirst  alluded,  around  Richmond,  and  in  connection  with  Gen.  .Sherman’s  army,  this  de- 
vastation was  in  progress  in  the  State  of  Alabama.  Up  to  that  time,  such  had  been  the 
fortune  of  war,  that  our  State  had  experienced  very  little  of  its  baleful  effects,  except  the 
occupancy  of  about  four  counties  north  of  tlie  Tennessee  River,  and  a small  skirt  of  the 
shore  on  the  (iulf  of  Mexico.  In  the  South,  we  knew  little  of  the  presence  of  the  army, 
e.\ccpt  as  prisoners  were  brought  to  us  to  be  provided  for,  and  our  own  sons  and  brothers 
were  marshalled  and  carried  off  to  tlie  held.  Out  of  a voting  population  of  ninety  thou- 
sand, Alabama  furnished  a hiiudred  and  twenty-two  thousand  men  for  service  in  the  Con- 
federntoarmy.  Thirty-live  thousand  of  these  died  on  the  field  of  battle,  from  wounds  or 
from  dise.ase,  and  a large  proportion  of  those  who  returned  came  back  broken  in  health 
and  eonstitution,  and  disabled  by  wounds  from  which  they  had  partially  recovered,  but 
which  rendered  them  unfit  for  active  service.  The  white  population  of  that  State  w-as 
525,UOU,  according  to  the  census  of  18110.  At  the  time  Gen.  Wilson  invaded  it,  the  State 
was  supplying  with  salt  and  meal  139,012  women  and  children,  and  otherwise  helpless  per- 
il 


18 


APPENDIX, 


sons  of  the  white  race.  Of  the  black  race,  there  were  440,000,  and  they,  being  the  property 
of  those  who  owned  them,  were  supplied  with  food  and  every  thing  necessary  for  their 
comfortable  subsistence  physically  by  their  owners.  Hence,  tliere  never  was  any  necessity 
In  all  the  States  for  a public  assistance  of  the  blacks.  But  this  eleemosynary  assistance  to 
the  white  race  was  absolutely  necessary.  The  State  had  appropriated,  at  the  previous  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature,  seven  millions  of  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  meal  and 
salt  for  their  relief.  .Meat  was  out  of  the  question.  Even  those  comparatively  wealthy  pos- 
sessed but  little  of  it,  and  that  little  was  generally  contributed,  for  the  most  part,  to  the 
army.  That  was  the  condition  of  things  in  Alabama  at  the  time  the  Confederacy  collapsed. 
Now,  at  that  time,  the  corn  crop  of  the  State  was  just  ready  to  be  ploughed  and  hoed  the 
first  time.  But  the  black  people,  being  informed  of  the  presence  of  the  Federal  forces, 
thought  the  off-repeated  tale  of  freedom  was  actually  to  be  verified  at  last,  and  concluded 
they  would  test  the  matter,  knowing  no  way  of  testing  it  except  by  quitting  work,  and 
seeing  whether  their  masters  dared  order  them  back  again  to  the  plough-handle  and  the 
hoe.  That  was  their  only  mode  — simple,  direct,  efficacious  — of  testing  the  great  proposi- 
tion, “ Am  I free  or  not?  ” [Applause.]  The  effect  on  the  crop  was,  of  course,  most  dis- 
astrous ; but  it  tended  to  satisfy  those  who  made  the  experiment  that  there  was  at  least 
some  degree  of  truth  in  the  idea  that  they  were  free.  Tlie  consequence  was,  that  the  crop, 
just  at  the  turning  point,  vanished  for  want  of  cultivation  ; besides,  a drouth  set  in  of  un- 
paralleled severity,  and  continued  all  through  the  crop  season ; and  the  result  is,  that  the 
State,  thus  depleted  of  its  working  force  for  securing  means  of  subsistence  in  the  com- 
mencement of  the  season  to  a degree  never  before  known,  is  now  left  with  about  half  a 
crop  of  corn  and  small  grain.  Cotton  has  not  been  planted  to  any  e.xtent,  because,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  material  for  bread  must  be  raised  before  cotton.  This  is  the  actual  con- 
dition of  affairs,  as  given  me  by  the  delegates  at  the  recent  State  Convention  which  as- 
sembled in  jMontgomcry  in  September  last.  Men  of  intelligence,  candor,  fairness  in  all  re- 
spects, and  whose  judgment  can  be  relied  on,  assured  me  t^at  it  is  undoubtedly  true,  that 
in  that  State  there  is  not  more  than  one-fifth  of  a crop  of  grain  for  breadstuffs  raised. 
Now,  if  the  same  ratio  of  indigence  exists  among  the  black  population  that  exists  among 
the  white,  it  is  manifest  that  there  are  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  people  in  that 
State  who  may  suffer  for  food  before  the  month  of  March  comes  round.  Our  resources 
were  completely  exhausted,  or  nearly  so,  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  Spring. 


Eeiiaeks  of  Maj.-Gen.  Meade. 

Gen.  Meade  said, — 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  — It  is  hardly  possible  for  me  to  express  in  suitable  language  the 
gratitude  I feel  from  your  reception  of  me  this  evening.  It  would  be  vanity  in  me  to  say 
th.at  I thought  my  name  was  not  well  known  here;  but  I really  did  not  expect  this 
flattering  reception,  and  am  deeply  grateful  for  it.  It  is  only  right  that  I should  explain 
why  I am  here  before  you  to-niglit.  I am  no  speaker,  and  it  seems  to  me  to  be  audacity 
only  equal  to  that  required  to  fight  the  great  battle  of  Gettysburg  to  come  before  you  after 
Usteniug  to  the  flow  of  eloquence  which  you  have  just  heard ; but  I was  told  in  Philadel- 
phia, that,  if  I came  here  to-night,  I might  do  some  good.  I therefore  said  I would 
come  and  tell  you  briefly  how  heartily  I endorse  the  plan  of  the  Commission,  and  wish  it 
success.  As  commander  of  a very  large  army,  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  witness  the  ruin 
which  has  fallen  on  a large  portion  of  the  country.  I can  tell  you  that  you  cannot  con- 
ceive the  distress  which  exists  in  the  Southern  States.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dilate  on 
this  point.  Since  the  Rebellion  broke  out  the  men  have  been  engaged  in  war,  the  women  in 
providing  for  their  wants.  They  have  had  no  means  of  making  money.  Their  currency  is 
now  destroyed ; and,  when  you  consider  these  things,  you  must  see  how  great  is  their  dis- 
tress. The  question  is,  ought  we  to  relieve  it?  I will  not  reason  on  the  morality  of  the 
question,  but  I will  tell  you  what  we  soldiers  do.  After  fighting  a battle,  when  the  dead 
and  wounded  lay  .thick  around  us,  we  did  not  ask  any  questions,  but  we  took  tender  care  of 
such  as  needed  it.  That  should  be  your  morality.  The  Southern  people  have  now  ceased 
to  be  enemies,  and  are  disposed  to  be  friends.  It  is  your  duty,  as  Christians  and  citizens, 
and  for  your  material  interests,  to  believe  them.  This  Commission  is  worthy  of  support, 
for  it  will  relieve  their  necessities,  aud  assuage  the  distress  which  we,  in  the  course  of  this 
war,  have  been  compelled  to  inflict  on  them.  The  officers  of  this  association  are  among 
the  first  men  in  the  country,  and  will  make  the  very  best  use  of  all  the  funds  that  may  be 
intrusted  to  their  care.  Thanking  you  for  your  very  kind  reception  of  me  this  evening,  I 
bid  you  adieu 


Appendix  B 


NECESSITY  OF  SOUTHERN  INDUSTRY  TO  NATIONAL  PROSPERITY  AND 

PEACE. 

GOV.  PARSONS,  OF  ALABAMA,  AT  THE  COOPER  INSTITUTE,  NEW  YORK,  NOV.  1.3,  18fi6. 

Let  me  say,  likewise,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  especially  to  tliose  of  you  in  this  vast 
city  wlio  pursue  commercial  avocations,  scarcely  one  of  wliom  is  not,  in  some  way,  directly 
or  indirectly,  connected  vvitli  it  and  affected  by  it,  that  nothing  is  more  important  to  the 
interests  of  the  United  States  of  Americii  now  than  to  restore  business  pursuits  iu  ,all  their 
old  relations  to  e.ach  other.  A good  cotton  crop  next  year  will  do  more  to  sustain  the  cur- 
rency of  the  Federal  (lovcrnraent;  to  help  Mr.  McCulloch  out  of  his  troubles,  if  he  has 
any,  and  perhaps  he  has  ; to  maintain  tlie  supremacy  of  American  manufactures  and 
commerce  on  sea  and  land  in  tlie  future  as  tliey  were  aforetime;  it  wili  do  more  to 
thwart  the  schemes  and  mischievous  clamors  of  those  wlio  wtiisper  to  the  Soutli,  “ Free 
trade  and  free  goods,  and  down  witli  the  Yankee  tariff!”  than  any  thing  else  you  can  devise. 
[Applause.]  It  will  put  a checkmate  upon  tlie  idea  of  introducing  Egyptian  cotton  in  place 
of  American  in  the  market.  I am  informed  by  a distinguished  citizen  of  this  State,  who  is 
recently  from  Alexandria,  that,  when  he  left  that  port,  there  were  fifty-one  vessels,  steam 
ers,  laden  with  cotton  from  the  Valley  of  the  NilCj  wliicli  commanded  the  same  price  in 
Liverpool  ,as  cotton  from  the  South.  Whoever  is  interested  in  that  trade  desires  to  have 
a high  export  duty  placed  upon  American  cotton,  because  such  a duty  would  be  equiviilent 
to  a bounty  on  Egyptian  cotton.  The  same  gentleman  I refer  to  — Mr.  Field,  of  the  Atlan- 
tic Telegraph  — informed  me  that  English  capital  by  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
is  being  invested  in  tlie  construction  of  railroads  in  India  ; so  that  the  cotton  cultivated  and 
produced  in  the  interior  can  be  taken  cheaply  and  rapidly  to  the  coast,  and  tfius  brought  to 
market,  — an  inferior  article  to  the  Egyptian,  but  which  goes  in  to  make  up  tlie  sum  neces- 
sary. These  things,  it  seems  to  me,  are  worth  considering.  Now,  if  the  cotton-fields  of 
the  South,  left  desolate  by  the  war,  without  labor,  without  capital  to  sustain  a laboring 
force,  and  to  procure  that  wliich  is  necessary  to  curry  on  the  business  of  raising  a new  crop,  — 
if  these  fields  are  permitted  to  go  uncultivated  another  year  does  it  not  materially  weaken 
a very  great  interest  in  the  country.'  I refer  to  this  merely  for  the  purpose  of  sliowing  how 
the  doctrine  of  compensation  comes  in.  He  who  gives  forth  from  liis  abundance  to  tlio.se 
whoappe.arto-have  nothing  to  give  comes  buck  laden  with  returns  wliicti  lie  little  expected 
to  receive.  So  it  will  be  with  us.  It  is  in  tliis  that  tlie  Union  will  be  restored  in  the  heart 
ipore  effectually  than  any  bayonet  can  bind  it  togetlicr.  [Eoud  applause  ] It  is  not  by 
the  bayonet,  tliat  the  Union  is  to  be  permanently  maintained:  it  is  by  good  offices  rather. 
Who  live  upon  the  extreme  South  have  an  interest  in  common  with  those  wlio  live  upon 
the  extreme  North ; and  I look  forward,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  to  the  time  wlien  we  who 
have  been  lately  at  bayonet-points  and  sword-points  shall  greet  eacli  otlier;  the  people  of 
the  North  coming  to  the  South,  bringing  their  active  capital  there,  and  uniting  it  with 
those  who  have  land  and  experience  necessary  to  cultivate  cotton  and  other  crops,  and 
spending  their  winters  with  their  families  in  the  South  ; to  the  time,  too,  when  new  indus- 
try shall  have  given  us  new  means  and  resources,  enabling  us  to  go  to  the  North  and  spend 
our  summers  upon  your  lake-shores  and  your  cool  rivers  and  mountains.  That  will  be  the 
sort  of  union  that  will  secure  harmony  and  peace. 


Appendix  C. 


CAPACITY  FOR  INTELLIGENT  LABOR. 

The  free  colored  people  of  Louisiana,  numbering,  according  to  the  census  of  1860, 
eighteen  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-seven,  paid  taxes,  in  the  same  year,  on  an  assess- 
ment of  thirteen  millions.  This  gives  an  average  for  e.ach  person  of  about  seven  hundred 
dollars  of  property.  But  those  who  are  best  informed  on  the  subject  estimate  the  actual 
free  colored  population  in  1800,  at  twenty-five  thousand.  Adopting  this  estimate,  we  have 
an  average  for  each  person  of  five  hundred  and  twenty  dollars,  ifow  the  average  wealth 
of  each  person  tliroughout  the  loyal  free  States  is  put  at  only  four  hundred  and  eighty-four 
dollars  (National  Almanac  for  180:!,  pp.  147,  309).  The  average  in  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land is  seven  hundred  and  seven  dollars  (National  Almanac,  p.  140).  These  figures  speak 
emphatically  of  the  colored  man’s  capacity  to  acquire  property,  even  in  spite  of  serious  civil 
disabilities. 


19 


20 


APPENDIX. 


“ Near  Norfolk,  near  Richmond,  and  opposite  Washington,  abandoned  houses  as  well  as 
lands  are  rented  by  coloied  people  tliemselves,  or  by  the  employers  of  such.  All  these 
means  have  been  taken  to  give  the  freedmen  the  prscticai  fruits  of  ireedom.  Some  may 
ask.  Do  they  give  these  results  ? In  answer,  1 would  say,  that,  wherever  a fair  opportuuity 
for  their  trial  has  been  given,  the  success  has  been  even  greater  than  we  could  liave  auiici- 
pated.  At  Davis  Bend,  on  the  Mississippi,  the  colored  people  have  already  laid  up  more 
than  a hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  is  the  aim  of  the  Bureau  to  encourage  the  different 
benevolent  institutions.  Industrial  schools  have  been  started  with  the  best  results.  I saw 
an  excellent  one  at  Norfolk.  A Quaker  lady  taught  girls  to  sew  and  make  different  gar- 
ments. And  wherever  these  schools  have  been  tried  they  have  paid  their  tvay.” Gen. 

Howard,  August,  1805. 

United-Statks  District  Court,  I 
Alexandria,  V'a.,  July  J2,  lo05.  j 

Sir,  — It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  bear  testimony  to  the  good  conduct  of  our  colored 
fellow-citizens  for  the  last  two  years.  In  this  city,  we  have  had  from  eight  to  ten  thousand 
contrabands,  or  refugees  from  v'irginia  slavery ; about  two  thousand  of  them  have  enlisted 
into  the  army  of  the  Union ; and  nearly  as  many  more  have  been  employed  in  the  Commis- 
sary and  Quartermasters’  service,  and  in  the  hospitals  of  the  city.  Their  sobriety,  industry, 
and  economy  have  far  exceeded  my  expectations,  although  1 have  been  supposed  to  be  pre- 
judiced in  tavor  of  the  race. 

They  have,  within  three  years,  built  over  a thousand  dwelling-houses  and  provided  quite 
comfortable  furniture  for  tnem,  at  an  average  cost  of  three  hundred  dollars  each.  They  have 
also  invested  over  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  ground  rents  and  purcliase  of  lots.  They  have 
built  three  churches,  one  of  wood  and  two  of  brick,  togetlier  with  two  comfortable  wooden 
school-houses. 

Within  the  last  year  I have  invested  for  a large  number  of  individuals  in  Government 
seven-thirty  bonds,  .amounting,  in  the  aggregate,  to  nearly  eight  thousand  dollars. 

They  have  now  twenty  teachers  employed  in  the  education  of  their  children,  and  I think 
are,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  giving  more  earnest  and  general  attention  to  education 
than  the  white  people  of  this  city. 

The  colored  population  of  the  city  is  now  nearly  equal  to  the  white;  but  I am  sure  I have 
seeu  more  than  fifty  drunken  men  among  our  white  people  to  one  among  the  colored 
within  the  last  two  years. 

Your  friend, 

John  C.  Underwood. 

“ It  must  be  remembered  that  very  diverse  original  races  are  represented  among  the 
slaves.  In  Southern  Alabama  and  Mississippi  will  be  found,  we  might  say,  tribes  with 
whom  the  traditions  of  Africa  are  fresh,  individuals  whose  memories  run  back  to  days  of 
freedom  there.  In  the  small  plantations  of  Tennessee,  on  the  other  hand,'wiil  be  found 
men  who  have  associated  more  freely  with  whites, — men  used  to  act  more  on  their  indi- 
vidual responsibility,  — many  of  whom  would  prove  a fair  match  for  any  Scot  or  any 
Yankee.  No  general  inferences,  therefore,  are  to  be  received  with  very  great  confidence; 
but  it  may  be  asserted,  certainly,  that  the  younger  scholars,  at  the  first,  attack  the  prob- 
lems of  learning  with  a sort  of  zeal  which  brings  them  fully  up  to  the  white  children  of 
their  age.”  — ''  North-American  Review,”  October,  Iblio. 


Appendix  D. 


LABOR  AS  A RESTORER  OF  SOCI.AL  UNITY. 

“ Let  me  tell  you  my  method  of  solving  this  problem,  — how  to  rid  ourselves  of  this 
prejudice.  It  is,  get  more  the  spirit  of  Christ.  That  will  substitute  love  for  h.ate  in  our 
prejudices.  But  you  will  say,  ‘ This  is  not  practical : the  love  of  Christ  is  not  so  wide- 
spread as  to  render  this  available.’  Well,  then,  interest  will  do  it.  We  cannot  dispense 
with  their  labor.  Our  intercourse  which  we  must  hold  with  them  as  our  employees  will  serve 
to  dissipate  our  prejudices.  This  is  my  opinion,  and  I can  back  it  up  with  facts.  Maryland 
has  become  a free  btate  by  her  own  act.  In  the  southern  part  of  Maryland,  the  slave- 
owners were  devoted  to  the  institution.  It  was  of ‘divine  origin.’  Slavery  was  ‘the 
normal  condition  of  the  black  race.’  They  hung  to  it  as  long  as  they  could  ; but  fortu- 
nately in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  were  brave  men  who  fought  against  it;  and  they 
finally  triumphed.  Immediately  the  Ibrmer  owners  of  slaves  were  determined  to  drive  off 
their  hands  from  their  old  homes.  They  could  live  with  them  as  slaves,  but  not  as  free 
men.  How  is  it  now  ? They  have  agents,  whom  they  send  to  Richmond  and  elsewhere, 
to  collect  freedmen  to  labor  for  them.  They  must  have  their  help,  and  they  are  engaging 
as  many  as  they  c.an  get.  They  are  willing  to  pay  from  thirteen  to  fifteen  dollars 
for  ordinary  hands  : they  want  the  women  for  house  labor;  and  the  prospect  is,  that  there 
will  soon  be  more  negroes  in  that  section  than  there  were  formerly  of  slaves  and  free  people 
of  color.  They  will  have  no  trouble  in  living  with  the  whites,  nor  the  whites  with  them. 
Thus  it  will  be  everywhere.”  — Gen.  Howard,  August,  1805. 


Appendix  E, 


msTEucnoN  to  be  not  speculative  and  theoretical,  but  practi- 
cal AND  CHRISTIAN. 

EXTRACT  FROM  PRESIDENT  JOHNSON’S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  COLORED  TROOPS  AT  WASH- 
INGTON, OCT.  10,  1805. 

“ Hence  let  me  impress  upon  you  the  importance  of  controlling  your  p-assions,  develop- 
ing your  intellect,  and  of  applying  your  physical  powers  to  the  industrial  interests  of  the 
country;  and  that  is  the  true  process  by  which  this  question  can  be  settled.  Be  patient, 
persevering,  and  forbearing;  and  you  will  help  to  solve  the  problem.  Make  for  yourselves 
a reputation  in  this  cause,  as  you  have  won  for  yourselves  a reputation  in  the  Ciiuse  in 
which  you  have  been  engaged.  In  speaking  to  the  members  of  llii.s  regiment,  I want  them 
to  understand  that,  so  far  as  I am  concerned,  I do  not  assume  or  [iretend  that  I am  stronger 
than  the  laws,  of  course,  of  Nature,  or  that  1 am  wiser  than  Providence  itself.  It  is  our 
duty  to  try  and  discover  wliat  tiiose  great  laws  are  which  arc  at  the  foundation  of  all  things, 
and,  having  discovered  what  they  are,  conform  our  action  and  our  conduct  to  them  and  to 
the  will  of  Uod  who  ruleth  all  things.  He  liolds  the  destinies  of  nations  in  the  palm  of  his 
hand,  and  he  will  solve  the  (question,  and  rescue  these  people  froiii  the  dithculties  that  have 
so  long  surrounded  them.  Then  let  us  be  patient,  industrious,  and  persevering.  Let  us  de- 
velop any  intellectual  and  moral  worth.  1 trust  what  1 have  said  may  be  understood  and 
appreciated.  Go  to  your  homes,  and  lead  peaceful,  prosperous,  and  happy  lives,  in  peace 
with  all  men.  Give  utterance  to  no  word  that  would  cause  dissensions ; but  do  that  winch 
will  be  creditable  to  yourselves  and  to  your  country.” 

GEN.  HOWARD’S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  FREEDMEN  OF  LVNCHBURG,  SEPTEMBER,  1SC5. 

He  impressed  upon  them  that  work  was  the  duty  and  destiny  of  all  men  ; that  he  himself 
hitd  worked  hard  all  his  life  from  Ids  boyhood  up  ; that  lie  hud  still  to  work  hard  ; and  that 
lie  was  liappy  in  work;  and  that  the  attempt  on  their  jiart  to  lead  any  other  life,  wouUi 
surely  bring  them  into  trouble,  perh.aps  starvation.  He  advised  them  all  to  make  contracts 
with  their  former  masters  or  otliers,  and,  wlien  they  laid  made  them,  to  keep  them,  observe 
them  to  the  letter;  be  faithful,  industrious,  obedient,  and  tlius  to  live  down  the  predictions 
of  many  tliat  they  were  unfit  for  freedom.  The  General  cautioned  them  against  erroneous 
and  exaggerated  ideas  of  what  freedom  was  ; that  it  brouglit  with  it  to  them  respon.-ibiti- 
ties  and  cares  that  they  had  never  known  before  ; that  they  would  have  to  work  hard  and 
constantly  to  provide  for  themselves  and  families  ; but  that  they  could  get  along  very  well  if 
they  would  be  energetic,  honest,  and  provident.  He  urged  upon  them,  with  great  earnest- 
ness, to  do  right  ; try  in  all  cases  to  find  out  what  is  right,  to  study  and  labor  and  pray 
to  ascertain  it,  and  then  to  do  it.  He  warned  them  against  lives  of  immorality,  idleness, 
and  dishonesty,  as  certain  to  bring  them  to  ruin ; and  to  endeavor  to  live  in  accordance 
with  tlie  Christian  teachings  of  which  they  had  just  heard.  The  duty  of  religion  was  very 
warmly  inipres.sed  upon  them;  and  they  were  told,  that,  if  they  considered  their  lot  a liard 
one  in  this  life,  they  must  so  live  as  finally  to  attain  to  that  higher  and  better  life,  where  the 
sorrows  incident  to  this  will  not  be  known.  He  alluded  to  the  fallacious  idea  which  some 
entertained,  that  the  lands  of  the  South  would  be  parcelled  among  them  by  the  Govern- 
ment at  Cliristmas.  This  idea,  lie  told  them,  was  utterly  without  foundation,  and  to  dis. 
card  it  from  tlieir  minds.  The  Government  had  no  lands  to  give  ; it  had  no  right  to  take 
them  from  their  owners,  and  it  would  not  be  best  if  it  had  tlie  right;  and  that,  if  bands 
were  given  them  now,  with  their  want  of  experience  in  inanitging  for  themselves,  and  lack 
of  means,  tliey  would  not  find  it  to  their  advantage,  and  would,  most  probably,  soon  be 
cheated  out  of  them  by  sharpers.  The  best  thing  now  was  to  work  for  others  faithfully, 
learn  c.xperience,  be  industrious  and  economical,  and  try  to  save  enough  from  their  wages 
to  buy  tliemselves  lioines  alter  a viiile.  He  urged  tiH-ni  to  educate  their  children,  and 
bring  them  up  to  correct  and  useful  lives.  The  General  alluded  to  the  pernicious  advice 
which  had  been  given  them  bv  mischievous  persons,  such  as,  “ If  a white  man  pushes  you 
off  the  sidewalk,  push  him  orf  too:  if  he  strikes  you,  strike  liim  back  again,”  &c.  “ This,” 
s.aid  the  General,  “ is  all  wrong.”  They  must  remember  not  to  violate  the  teachings  of  the 
blessed  Saviour  of  whom  they  hat  been  hearing,  who,  when  he  was  reviled,  reviled  not 
again  ; when  he  was  smitten  on  one  cheek,  turned  the  other.  That  meek  and  gentle  example 
ot  the  great  Master  was  worthy  of  their  constant  imitation.  Listen  not  to  the  counsels 
of  bad  men : they  would  only  do  them  harm.  He  assured  them  that  the  Government 
would  protect  them,  and  that  their  rights  would  all  be  respected. 

Gen.  Howard  proceeded  in  this  strain  to  address  his  attentive  audience  at  considerable 
length : we  give  only  an  imperfect  sketch  of  his  remarks  from  memory.  They  were  ad- 
mirably conceived,  and  judiciously  adapted  to  the  circumstances  and  necessities  of  the 
case,  and  we  doubt  not  will  result  iu  much  good  in  disabusing  the  minds  of  the  negroes  of 
error,  and  giving  them  correct  vievts  of  their  real  situation  and  duties. 

21 


Appendix  F. 

POSITION  OF  THE  FUEEDIIEN’S  BUREAU. 


War  Department,  Bureau  of  Refugees,  » 
Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands,  > 
Washington,  D.C.,  May  19,  1865.  > 

Circular  No.  2. 

By  tlie  appointment  of  the  President,  I assume  cliarge  of  the  “ Bureau  of  Refugees, 
Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands.” 

I.  Commissioners  will  be  at  once  appointed  for  the  different  insurrectionary  States.  To 
them  will  be  intrusted  the  supervision  of  abandoned  lands,  and  the  control  of  all  subjects 
relating  to  refugees  and  freedmen  in  their  respective  districts.  All  agents  in  the  field,  how- 
ever appointed,  are  requested  to  report  to  them  the  condition  of  their  work.  Refugees 
and  freedmen  not  already  provided  for  wili  inform  them  of  their  wants.  All  applications 
for  relief  will  be  referred  to  them  or  their  agents  by  post  and  district  commanders. 

II.  But  it  is  not  the  intention  of  Government  that  tliis  bureau  shall  supersede  the  vari- 
ous benevolent  organizations  in  the  work  of  administering  relief.  This  must  still  be  af- 
forded by  the  benevolence  cf  the  people  througli  their  voluntary  societies,  no  government- 
al appropriations  having  been  made  for  this  purpose.  The  various  Commissioners  will 
look  to  the  associations  laboring  in  their  respective  districts  to  provide  as  heretofore  for 
the  wants  of  these  destitute  people.  I invite,  therefore,  the  continuance  and  co-operation 
of  such  societies.  I trust  they  will  still  be  generously  supported  by  the  people,  and  I re- 
quest them  to  send  me  their  names,  lists  of  their  principal  officers,  and  a brief  statement  of 
their  present  work. 

III.  The  demands  for  labor  are  sufficient  to  afford  employment  to  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
all  the  able-bodied  refugees  and  freedmen.  It  will  be  the  object  of  all  Commissioners  to 
introduce  practicable  systems  of  compensated  labor;  and  to  this  end,  they  will  endeavor  to 
remove  the  prejudices  of  their  late  masters  unwilling  to  employ  their  former  servants;  to 
correct  tlie  false  impressions  sometimes  entertained  by  the  freedmen  that  they  can  live 
without  labor;  and  to  overcome  that  false  pride  which  renders  some  of  the  refugees  more 
willing  to  be  supported  in  Idleness  than  to  support  themselves.  While  a generous  provi- 
sion sliould  be  made  for  the  aged,  intirm,  and  sick,  the  able-bodied  should  be  encouraged, 
and,  if  necessary,  compelled,  to  labor  for  their  own  support. 

1\'.  The  educational  and  moral  condition  of  these  people  will  not  be  forgotten.  The  ut- 
most facility  will  be  afforded  to  benevolent  and  religious  organizations  and  State  authori- 
ties in  the  maintenance  of  good  schools  (for  refugees  and  freedraenj  until  a system  of  free 
schools  can  be  supported  by  the  reorganized  local  governments.  Meanwhile,  whenever 
schools  are  broken  up  by  authorized  agents  of  the  Government,  it  is  requested  that  the 
fact  and  attendant  circumstances  be  reported  to  this  Bure.iu.  * 

l.et  me  repeat,  that  in  all  this  work  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  supersede  the  benevolent 
agencies  already  engaged  in  it,  but  to  systematise  and  facilitate  them. 

O.  O.  Howard, 

Major- Gen.  Commissioner  Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands. 

[Official.] 


War  Departjient,  Bureau  of  Refugees,  i 
Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands,  > 

AVasiiington,  D.C.,  Dec.  7,  1805.  > 

My  Dear  Sir, — Your  letter  enclosing  the  Circulars  came  duly;  but  in  the  press  of 
business  in  getting  my  Report  ready  for  Congress,  I have  had  to  forego  for  a lew  days  the 
privilege  of  attending  to  private  or  semi-official  correspondence. 

I do  not  think  I could  give  any  suggestions.  Your  printed  circulars  seem  to  embrace  the 
objects  of  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Societies : but  I am  e.xceedingly  glad  to  see  the  Episcopal 
Church  come  out  so  earnestly  in  favor  of  this  work.  God  speed  you,  say  I.  I send  you 
with  this  copies  of  circulars  issued  from  this  office  ; and  I shall  always  be  happy  to  do  any 
thing  in  my  power,  consistent  with  my  orders,  to  aid  you. 

Very  truly  yours, 

O.  O.  Howard,  Mgjor-Gen. 

Rev.  Dr.  F.  Wharton,  Brookline,  Mass. 

22 


Appendix  G, 


SOUTHERN  MEN  AS  CO-WORKERS. 


North  Carolina  Council  and  the  Freedmen. 

On  the  15th  of  Sept.,  the  third  day  of  the  session, 

“ The  Committee  to  wliom  was  referred  that  part  of  the  Bishop’s  address  relating  to  the 
present  condition  and  religious  culture  of  the  colored  population,  submitted,  through  its 
chairman,  Rev.  George  M.  Everheart,  the  following  report;  — 

“ WiiKREAs,  by  the  changed  relation  e.xisting  between  the  white  and  black  races,  a 
new,  and,  to  some  e.xteut,  confused  condition  oti  things  obtains;  and  as  this  revolution  in 
society  necessarily  tends  to  create  an  alienation  amounting  at  least  to  indifference  on  the 
part  of  the  former  owners  of  slaves,  and  distrust  and  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  freed- 
men towards  their  former  masters,  and  as  the  religious  education  of  the  freedmen  has  been 
thereby  alre;idy  greatly  hindered,  and  in  some  eases  defeated;  and  as  the  present  civil 
statun  of  the  treedmeii,  notwithstanding  these  things,  for  many  reasons  seems  clearly 
providential,  and  should  be  accepted  by  us  as  such,  — therefore. 

Unsolved,  That  the  Church  in  this  Diocese  address  herself,  with  all  the  energy  and  wis- 
dom at  her  coniinand,  to  reduce  this  confusion  to  order,  and  to  elevate  the  colored  race  as 
fast  as  it  may  come  within  her  sphere  of  action.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  end,  be  it 
further 

Jlesnloed,  1st,  That  this  Council  commend  the  people  of  color  to  the  continued  and  un- 
abated forbearance,  kindness,  and  good-will  of  the  white  population  of  this  Diocese. 

Unsolved,  'Jd,  That  in  view  of  the  radical  changes  wrought  in  the  colored  man’s  politi- 
c,al,  and.  to  a large  degree,  social  condition,  it  is  advisable  tjiat  there  should  be  radical 
changes  also  brought  about  in  his  religious  and  ecclesiastical  relations ; that  his  former 
and  subordinate  place  in  the  Sunday  school,  in  the  congregation,  .and  at  the  communion 
will  not  answer;  that  to  reach  him  with  the  teachings  and  blessings  of  the  Church  it  is 
the  sense  of  this  Council  that  separate  houses  of  worship  should  be  provided  as  soon  as 
practicable  (the  white  people  in  this  aiding  the  colored);  that  colored  vestries  should  be 
appointed,  with  white  wardens  to  direct  luid  afford  counsel ; that  there  should  be  separate 
bunday  schools  and  separate  congregations;  that  colored  superintendents  and  catechists 
should  be  secured  and  appointed  when  practicable,  or  at  least  should  be  ehosen  as  assist- 
ants to  head  catechists  or  superintendents;  that  all  colored  congregations,  when  competent 
to  form  a parish,  should  h.ave  power,  through  their  vestries,  of  electing  their  own  pastors, 
and  that  the  pastors  may  be  either  white  or  colored  clergymen,  and,  when  colored,  with  re- 
lations to  this  Council  to  be  determined  hereafter. 

Unsolved,  :!d.  That  the  attention  of  the  clergy  of  this  Diocese  be  directed  to  the  import- 
ance of  at  once  seeking  out  suitable  colored  men  for  catechists  and  Sunday-school  teach- 
ers, and  to  give  them,  as  far  as  possible,  personal  instructions  to  fit  them  for  these  posts. 

Unsolved,  4th,  That  this  Council  extend  an  invitation  to  colored  clergymen  of  the  Church 
to  conic  among  their  own  people  in  this  Diocese,  and  labor  in  their  sphere  with  us,  in 
building  up  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

Unsolved,  5th,  That  this  Council  recommend  steps  to  be  taken,  as  soon  as  practicable, 
for  the  education  of  colored  young  men  for  the  ministry  of  the  Church  to  their  own  peo- 
ple in  our  midst. 

Unsolved,  Oth,  That,  whenever  it  is  practic.able,  each  parish  should  make  provision  for 
the  mental  training  of  the  colored  children,  in  such  a manner  and  to  such  a degree  as  the 
condition  of  affairs  may  justify,  and  by  every  other  legitimate  means  to  impress  upon  the 
freedman’s  mind  the  sincere  interest  felt  in,  and  cherished  for,  him  by  the  Church. 

The  total  change  in  our  political  and  domestic  relations,  as  regards  the  colored  man,  and 
the  rapid  and  almost  universal  deterioration  in  his  moral  condition  since  his  emancipation 
from  sl.avery,  demand,  as  it  appears  to  your  Committee,  bold,  decisive,  and  definite  action 
in  his  behalf.  In  elevating  his  character,  we  shall  make  him  more  faithful  and  competent 
in  his  sphere,  and  discharge  thereby  more  perfectly  our  religious  obligations  to  his  race. 
Moreover,  your  Committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  path  pointed  out  is  the  most  direct 
way  of  carrying'  to  the  colored  man  the  blessings  of  our  holy  Christianity,  through  the  in- 
strumentalities of  the  Church;  and,  as  we  believe  the  Church  to  be  Apostolic  and  Catho- 
lic, we  feel  bound  to  do  all  within  our  power  to  convey  its  holy  teachings  as  rapidly  and  as 
potently  as  possible  to  every  soul  committed  to  our  care,  whether  its  casket  be  AngUcan 
or  African. 

Deeply  impressed  with  the  great  importance  of  this  matter,  we  respectfully  submit  the 
above  report  for  your  consideration. 

G.  M.  Everhart,  Chairman, 
Albert  Smeues, 

R.  F.  Buxton. 

23 


24 


APPENDIX. 


The  introduction  of  this  report  elicited  an  interesting  discussion,  at  the  close  of  which  It 
was 

“ Resoloed,  That,  in  consideration  of  tiie  interest  and  importance  of  the  subject  presented 
in  tliis  report,  Council  postpone  action  npon  it  until  its  next  meeting,  commending  in  the 
meantime  I lie  temporal  and  religions  interests  of  our  colored  population  to  the  benevo- 
lence and  wisdom  of  tlie  Diocese.” 

Of  the  subseiiuent  proceedings,  the  editor  of  the  “ Intelligencer  ” thus  speaks:  — 

“ The  report  elicited  considerable  debate;  not  opposition,  liowever.  The  question  dis- 
cussed was  simply  in  regard  to  present  action.  A large  majority  of  tile  Council  would 
have  voted  for  its  immediate  adoption,  had  not  the  Bisliop,  wno  took  oc  '.asion  to  indorse 
the  report  in  very  decided  terras,  expressed  the  opinion  that  a postponement  till  next 
Council  would  be  the  safest  course.” 

And  subsequently : — 

“ It  seems  to  ns  no  one  can  carefully  e.x.amine  the  details  of  the  report  and  be  offended. 
But,  be  that  as  it  may,  it  embodies  our  sentiments,  .and  we  shall  teach  them  not  only  in  our 
sphere  as  a parish  priest,  but  as  a church  editor.  Their  worth  is  more  apparent  every 
day. 

“ Why  should  any  one  be  offended  becau.se  some  plan  is  devising  for  the  negro’s  elevation  ? 
To  elevate  him  is  to  bless  ourselves,  protect  society,  develop  our  resources,  and  save  our 
Southern  heritage  from  becoming  a desolation. 

It  is  singularly  true  that  tliose  who  shirked  service,  never  gave  blood  nor  treasure  to  the 
cause  of  the  South,  .are  now  frequently  the  most  rampant  resistants  wirli  their  tongues 
to  the  authority  of  the  United  States.  Tlie  same  holds  good  to  no  small  degree  in  regard 
to  the  negro.  Those  wlio  never  owned  a slave,  or  whose  possession  of  the  negro  lias  been 
a recent  tiling,  are  generally  least  disposed' to  do  .aught  for  his  elevation  now.  So  far  as 
we  are  concerned,  we  have  been  a slaveowner  all  oUr  life,  as  all  our  fathers  were.  We  feel 
a special  privilege  therefore  in  writing  all  we  can,  in  doing  all  we  can,  and  in  saying  all  we 
can,  to  educate  tlie  negro’s  rnind  and  lieart.  We  are  well  assured  on  this  depends  his  all, 
and  to  no  small  degree  the  future  well-being  of  the  Southern  white  man  for  a generation 
to  come  1 ” 


War  Department,  Bureau  of  Refugees,  i 
Freed.men,  ANu  Abanuoned  Lands,  > 

WashingtO-N,  Oet.9,  18G5.  ) 

Mr  DEAR  Sir,  — I have  just  received  your  kind  letter,  and  hasten  to  reply.  By  judicious 
effort,  very  miicli  may  be  dona  in  the  way  of  education  in  the  South.  The  want  of  money, 
the  peculiar  habits  of  a lifetime,  and  the  prejudices  necessarily  exi.sting,  render  the  South- 
ern communities  for  the  most  part  unprepared  to  educate  their  poor,  botli  wiiite  and  black. 

Education  underlies  every  hope  of  success  for  the  Ircedmau.  Tnis  education  must,  of 
course,  extend  rather  to  the  practicable  arts  than  to  theoretical  knowledge.  Everything 
depends  on  tlie  youth  and  the  children  being  thoroughly  instructed  in  every  industrial  pur- 
suit. Through  education,  embracing  moral  and  religious  training,  the  fearful  prejudice  and 
hostility  against  tlie  blacks  can  be  overcome.  They  themselves  will  bo  able  to  demand  and 
receive  both  privileges  and  rights  that  we  npw  have  dilflculty  to  guarantee.  Therefore,  I 
earnestly  entreat  benevolent  associations  to  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  give  them  the  op- 
portunities for  gaining  knowledge. 

I woulii  enjoy  beiii,;  with  you  at  your  meeting  in  I’hiladelpliia,  but  my  orders  carry  me 
in  the  other  direction.  Do  every  thing  you  possibly  can  for  the  elevation  of  the  freedmen. 
My  impression  is  that  hundreds,  and  perliaps  tliousauds,  of  Southern  people  would  be 
ready  to  aid  you  if  they  were  aiiproached  in  tlie  right  way.  They  acknowledge  their  ne- 
cessities ; and,  as  in  Louisiana,  a large  number  of  native  teachers  will  work  for  wages.  I 
am  often  asked  what  I can  do  in  the  way  of  .aid.  My  answer  is,  ’•  Not  much  ’’  I must  turn 
to  the  societies  now,  and  ask  them  what  they  can  do  to  aid  me'l  What  are  the  people 
willing  to  do  to  secure  the  blessings  almost  within  our  grasp,  — the  blessings  of  substantial 
freedom  and  enduring  peace?  tVdietiier  in  a mor.al  or  political  point  of  view,  1 believe 
every  thinking  man  is  ready  to  admit  th.at  we  will  stand  or  fall  as  a nation  ac  'ording  as  we 
are  true  to  principle,  — according  to  our  fidelity  to  the  trusts  evidently  committed  to  us. 

Very  truly  yours, 

O.  O.  IlGWARD,  Major-General. 


The  ministers  of  all  denominations  at  Selma,  Ala.,  have  issued  an  appeal  to  the  freedmen, 
of  which  the  following  is  the  main  portion  : — 

I.  We  notice  that  some  of  the  papers  circul.ated  among  you  are  trying  to  make  you  be- 
lieve that  you  are  li.atcd  and  detested  by  the  white  people  here.  The  writers  of  tliese  pa- 
pers live  a tlious.and  miles  from  here;  they  know  nothing  about  you  or  us;  they  care  noth- 
ing for  you  e.xccpt  as  they  can  make  gain  of  you.  We  cannot  think  why  they  desire  to 
make  you  tliiiik  we  liate  you,  unless  it  is  to  make  you  look  up  to  them.  What  they  tell 
you  is  certainly  calculated  to  do  you  no  good.  Its  ellect  is  to  make  you  look  upon  every 
white  man  ns  your  enemy ; to  feel  bitter  and  suspicious;  and  then  to  conduct  yourself  in 
such  a way  as  to  give  him  the  same  feeling  towards  you.  This  makes  you  feel  still  worse; 
and  so  it  goes  on.  Now  it  is  certain  tliat  we  have  got  to  live  together;  and  the  better  the 
feeling  between  us,  the  happier  to  both  parties,  —for  our  interests  in  this  world,  because  in 
carrying  on  all  kinds  of  business,  we  have  to  depend  on  one  another ; for  our  spirit  ual  in- 
terests, because  the  Spirit  of  God  cannot  dwell  in  angry  and  malicious  hearts.  lie  who 
would  throw  in  any  thing  to  prevent  our  coming  together  in  as  much  pc.ace  and  harmony 
Its  we  ever  had,  is  an  enemy  of  God  and  man. 


APPENDIX. 


25 


Where  do  yon  find  signs  that  we  hate  you  ? It  is  true  that  there  was  some  bad  feeling 
at  first.  Some  colored  people  thought  they  couldn’t  show  their  freedom  without  being  im- 
pudent and  ill-mannered;  some  white  folks,  vexed  at  the  way  things  turned  out,  were 
cross-grained  towards  the  freedmen.  But  this  was  only  for  a little  wliile,  and  with  a few 
people.  As  a general  thing,  the  whiles  were  disposed  to  be  kind  and  friendly,  and  to  give 
you  a good  start  as  far  as  they  were  able.  If  a freedman’s  mind  had  been  poisoned  against 
his  former  owner,  so  tliat  he  would  take  no  advice,  but  did  every  thing  to  vex  and  discour- 
age his  frieinis,  whose  fault  was  that  J A wom.an  lately  did  sometliing  very  foolish,  which 
may  make  licr  unliappy  for  life.  Her  former  mistress  was  asked  how  she  came  to  let  Nancy 
take  sucli  a step.  “ 1 did  .all  I could,”  was  the  reply;  “ but  slie  would  listen  to  any  low- 
down  white  man  sooner  than  to  me;  and  now  she  must  go  lier  own  way.  I’m  sorry  for 
her ; but  site  has  made  lier  own  bed.” 

if  planters  oiler  tlieir  freedmen  a foir  share  of  the  crop,  and  more;  .and  then  see  that 
they  are  not  doing  lialf  work,  not'making  enough  to  support  tliemselves,  is  it  a wonder 
tliey  get  angry  1 Hut  if  they  turn  off  this  set,  and  try  to  get  more  faitiiful  hands,  is  it  be- 
cause tliey  iiate  tliem  ? No:  tliey  are  sorry  for  them ; and  it  grieves  tlicm  to  tlie  heart  to 
see  them  going  to  ruin.  It  was  because  they  feared  tliis  very  tiling  that  they  were  opposed 
to  abolition. 

Tliey  knew  tliat  if  they  could  hire  good,  faithful  hands,  they  could  really  make  more  off 
their  farms  tlian  by  keeping  slaves.  Now  that  abolition  h.as  come,  tliey  want  to  make  tlie 
thing  work  as  well  as  it  can  for  both  parties.  They  liave  tlieir  own  interests  in  view  as 
well  ns  yours.  Your  interests  are  tlie  same  with  theirs.  If  they  do  well,  you  do;  and  if 
they  suffer,  you  do.  The  freedman  who  does  not  do  Ids  own  part  honestly  and  faithfully 
hates  himself.  But  we  declare  to  you,  as  in  the  presence  of  God,  that  your  best  friends  in 
the  world  before  abolition  were  your  masters,  and  tlie  same  persons  are  your  best  friends 
now,  — tliey  are  indeed  the  only  real  friends  you  h.ave;  but  yon  cannot  reasonably  e.xpect 
them  to  do  every  thing  for  you.  You  can’t  expect  them  to  be  your  friends  while  you  are 
your  own  eneiides.  llespect  yourself  so  as  to  be  above  every  tiling  mean  and  contemptible ; 
respect  yourself  so  as  to  be  jibove  associating  with  low-lived  people,  whether  black  or 
wliite;  respect  otlier  persons,  and  don’t  be  putting  on  foolish  airs;  and  you  may  be  very 
sure  that  every  body  will  respect  you. 

11.  As  your  friends,  we  caution  yon  a&inst  idleness,  and  the  vices  and  follies  that  grow 
out  of  it.  ‘‘An  Idle  brain  is  the  devil’s’^worksliop ; ” tliere  he  manufactures  all  kinds  of 
wicked  tliouglits;  and  wicked  thouglits  are  never  long  witliout  opportunity  for  wicked  deeds. 
‘‘.Satan  finds  iniscliitd’  still  for  idle  liaiids  to  do.” 

You  are  now  passing  tliroiigli  a great  trial,  a trial  of  your  characters,  wliich  will  prove 
whether  you  are  good  metal  worth  iireserving,  or  wlietlier  vou  are  mere  dirt  to  be  trampled 
under  foot.  .Many  of  you  are  as  much  mistaken  about  freedom,  as  tlie  old  .Jews  were 
about  the  kinirdom  of  Christ.  Tliey  tliought  tliat  in  tlie  kingdom  they  were  to  <lo  iiotliing 
but  to  sit  on  tlirones  and  eat  milk  and  lioiiey ; and  because  they  coulil  not  li.ive  it  in  tli.at 
way,  they  would  not  have  it  all.  Now,  Clirist  makes  us  free  “ to  work  out  our  own  salv.a- 
tion.”  We  ‘‘are  to  be  careful  to  maintain  good  works.”  ‘‘  If  any  man  will  not  work, 
neither  should  lie  eat.”  ‘‘  I.et  liiin  that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  liim  labor,  work- 
ing witli  Ills  liands  tlie  thing  that  is  good.’’  No  sensible  Christian  expects  to  be  wafted  to 
to  tile  skies  on  llowery  beds  of  ease  ; and  no  man  of  any  sen.se  e.xpects  to  be  prosperous, 
respectable,  and  happy,  if  lie  does  not  find  employment,  and  work  at  it  manfully  and  faitli- 
fully.  Don’t  expect  God  to  feed  you  by  any  miracle.  Don’t  expect  the  devil  to  feed  you  un- 
less you  do  ids  dirty  work.  No  doubt  he  will  Iced  you  while  you  work  for  him;  and  he 
will  pay  you  your  w.iges,  — Death. 

Tlie  old  .lews  were  God’s  chosen  people.  He  fed  them  with  manna  while  they  were  in 
sucli  a condition  that  tliey  could  not  feed  themselves.  If  any  man  cun  show  that,  without 
any  fault  of  Ids  own,  lie  cannot  make  an  lionest  living,  he  may  expect  God  to  feed  1dm. 
W,'  want  you  to  remember  another  tiling  about  tliose  old  .lews:  out  of  all  tliat  crossed  the 
Ked  .sea,  only  two  got  to  the  promised  land.  The  reason  was  tliat  ‘‘  they  sat  down  to  eat 
and  drink,  and  rose  up  to  play.”  tliat  was  all  tliey  cared  for,  and  ‘‘  they  perislied  in  the 
wilderness.” 

Wlien  we  see  young  women  idling  about:  flaunting  in  the  streets  in  sliabby  finery,  what 
must  we  think  of  how  tliey  make  a living?  Cm  we  respect  them?  Can  we  hire  them  to 
wait  in  our  liouses,  or  to  nurse  our  cnildren  ? IViien  wo  Idre  a woman  to  work  in  the 
house,  and  she  don't  lialf  do  lier  work,  and  is  sometimes  impertinent  to  our  wives,  can  we 
keep  lier?  Can  we  give  lier  a recommendation?  We  could  not  do  that  for  anybody. 
What  must  become  of  lier?  People  are  sorry  to  see  lier  in  a way  to  suffer  in  this  world 
and  to  be  damned  forever.  But  she  is  a free  woman  ; she  must  go  to  ruin  in  her  own  way. 
But  she  shall  not  have  to  tell  against  us  in  the  great  judgment  day  th.at  we  lifted  no  finger 
to  stop  her  in  her  mad  career. 

We  ride  through  the  country;  we  see  plantations  wliere  every  thing  used  to  be  comfort- 
able and  abundant;  fields  waving  with  plenty,  cabins  kept  clean  and  healthy,  children 
shining  with  fat,  men  and  women  contented  and  good  Immored,  so  that  we  loved  to  stop 
and  have  a few  words  with  them;  and  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  in  life  was  to  proucli 
at  the  quarters.  But  now  how  clianged  I AVe  may  say  with  Solomon,  •’  I went  by  the  field 
of  the  sloililul,  and  by  tlie  vineyard  of  the  man  void  of  understanding;  and  io,  it  w.as  all 
grown  over  with  thorns,  and  nettles  iiad  covered  the  face  thereof,  and  the  stone-wall 
thereof  was  broken  down  I Then  1 saw  and  considered  it  well.  I looked  upon  it  and  re- 
ceived instruction.  Yet  a little  sleep,  a little  slumber,  a little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep; 
so  shall  tliy  poverty  come  as  one  that  travaileth,  and  thy  want  as  an  armed  man.” 

Why  this  cliange  ? Is  it  because  the  owners  do  not  give  the  freedmen  a fair  chance  ? We 
declare  before  (iod  th.at  they  have  a better  chance  to  do  for  tliemselves  than  any  farming 
people  ever  liad  since  tlie  world  begun.  Y'et  it  is  very  plain  that  they  are  not  making  one 
biisliel  of  corn  where  they  might  make  ten.  They  are  not  making  enough  to  carry  them 
tlirougli  the  year.  Where’s  the  rest  to  come  from?  Will  the  owners  of  the  land  provide 
it  I W'here’s  the  money  to  come  from  ? 


26 


APPENDIX, 


Solomon  says  again,  "That  the  desire  of  the  slothful  slayeth  him.”  A lazy  man  desires 
to  eat  os  much  as  anybody  else.  To  eat,  he  must  beg  or  steal.  Much  good  it  will  do  him  to 
beg ; and,  when  it  comes  to  stealing,  the  penalty  is  ten  years  hard  labor  in  the  penitentiary. 

We  suppose  the  sort  of  men  that  do  these  things  may  never  hear  of  this  address,  and 
may  not  heed  it  if  they  do.  But  we  call  upon  the  respectable  freedmen  to  use  their  influ- 
ence to  put  a stop  to  such  doings.  Let  them  remember  that  the  bad  conduct  of  these  slug- 
gards casts  a stain  upon  all  the  colored  people,  just  as  the  bad  conduct  of  a member  of  the 
Church  disgraces  the  whole  body  of  the  Church. 

Do  these  sluggards  think  they  will  be  kept  another  year  on  plantations,  and  in  other 
places,  where  they  are  so  unfaithful  this  year?  If  you  hire  a man  bv  the  month,  and  be 
lazes  along  the  three  weeks,  and  then  breaks  off  just  in  the  pinch  of  the  business,  are  you 
going  to  hire  him  again  ? Do  they  think  that  the  plantations  are  going  to  be  turned 
over  to  them  to  do  as  they  please  } We  tell  you  as  a friend,  and  if  you  are  their  friends 
you’ll  tell  them,  that  the  sooner  they  get  this  foolish  idea  out  of  their  heads  the  better  for 
them. 

We  speak  to  the  respectable  freedmen, — men  whom  we  respected  as  honorable,  upright, 
and  faithful  servants.  They  have  our  opinion  still;  and  we  say  that  they  are  bound  to  use 
the  influence  of  their  good  character  to  lead  their  fellows  in  the  right  way.  If  you  do  not, 
their  blood  is  on  your  skirts. 

III.  We  caution  you  not  to  forget  “ the  fear  of  the  Lord,  which  is  the  beginning  of  wis- 
dom.” Without  this,  no  man  has  any  principle  that  can  be  depended  upon. 

‘‘Set  the  Lord  always  before  you,”  — your  Creator,  your  Saviour,  your  eternal  Judge. 
Think  of  him  as  regarding  every  action,  as  grieved  by  every  sin,  as  determined  to  bring 
every  work  into  judgment.  “ Set  him  always  before  you,  and  you  shall  never  fail.”  No 
matter  what  temptation  to  do  wrong,  no  matter  how  you  may  see  other  men  appearing  to 
flourish  in  their  wickedness,  you  will  say,  “ How  can  I do  this  great  thing,  and  sin  against 
the  Lord  ? ” 

Wicked  men  may  prosper,  and  increase  in  riches  through  their  wickedness;  for  it  is  not 
in  this  life  that  God  recompenses  the  ungodly.  But  “ what  shall  it  profit  a man  if  he  shall 
gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ? ” T^is  world  is  not  all.- 

“ B^ond  tliia  vale  of  tears. 

There  is  a life  above. 

Unmeasured  by  the  flight  of  years; 

And  all  that  life  is  love. 

There  is  a death  whose  pang 
Outlasts  the  fleeting  breath  ; 

Oh,  what  eternal  horrors  hang 
Around  the  second  death  1 


Lord  God  of  truth  and  grace. 

Teach  us  that  death  to  shun  1 
Lest  we  he  driven  from  thy  face 
For  evermore  undone  1 ’’ 

We  have  spoken  the  truth  in  love.  Will  you  receive  it  in  the  same  spirit  f 
Your  friends,  as  you  conduct  yourselves;  your  enemies,  never  I Always  your  servants, 
for  Christ’s  sake, 

J.  H.  Ticknor. 
E.  Baldwin. 

A.  T.  Spalding. 
L.  C.  Kansom. 

P.  M.  Grace. 

N.  B.  Cooper. 


Appendix  H. 


PEESEXT  DESTITUTION. 

Headqaartera  Assistant  Commissioner,  Bureau  Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned ) 
Lands,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  Charreston,  S.C.,  Oct.  Li,  186u.  S 

Chairman  Commission  on  Clothing,  Boston,  Mass. 

My  Dear  Sir, — I deem  it  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  great  num- 
bers of  destitute  persons,  for  whose  protection  this  bureau  was  established,  call  again  for 
the  benevolence  of  the  North.  Unless  clotliing  of  all  kinds  is  furnished,  there  must  be 
great  sullering  and  loss  of  life  during  the  inclement  season  now  approacliiug.  The  means 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Freedmen’s  Bureau  arc  entirely  inadequate  to  meet  the  pressing  de- 
mands of  destitute  humanity.  Blankets,  woolen  shirts,  pantaloons,  women’s  and  child- 
ren’s underclothinfr  and  dresses,  and  shoes  and  stockings,  of  all  sizes,  are  needed. 

Ureat  portions  of  these  two  States  have  been  desolated  and  laid  waste  by  the  late  war. 
Industry  has  been  interrupted,  and  over  large  districts  entirely  suspended;  and  thousands 
of  people  are  utterly  destitute.  Thirty-live  thousand  blankets  are  needed  in  South  Carolina 
and  on  the  Sea  Islands  alone.  Every  necessary  article  of  wearing  apparel  which  you  can 
send  will  be  the  means  of  saving  some  one  from  sutfering.  Great  care  will  be  used  in  the 
distributiou  of  the  clothing  and  supplies  sent,  as  an  otiiccr  will  be  specially  appointed  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  ot  articles,  and  attend  to  their  distribution. 

I am,  sir,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

K.  Saxton,  Brett.  Major-General, 

Assistant  Commissioner. 


NOTE3  OP  A visit  made  TO  SEE  GOVERNOR  PARSONS  OF  AL.VBAMA. 

ADO.  16, 1865. 

5Iet  Governor  Parsons  just  leaving  the  capitol.  Making  known  to  him  my  business  and 
relation,  he  greets  me  warmly,  and  appoints  six  o’clock  as  the  hour  of  meeting  me.  The 
governor  gives  hearty  expression  to  his  deep  interest  in  the  condition  of  the  freedmen. 
Says  to  me,  “ You  will  see  the  deep  interest  I must  have  felt  in  your  presence  this  after- 
noon, ivhen  I tell  you  tljat  these  mutters  are  almost  constantly  pressing  upon  me.  So  con- 
cerned have  I become  in  these  matters,  that  I yesterday  sent  a commissioner  to  the  Presi- 
dent, and  to-day  commissioned  still  another  to  go  to  Washington  to  seek  counsel  and  aid. 

“ Formerly,”  said  Governor  Parsons,  “ every  planter’s  ‘ quarters  ’ was  his  ‘ alms-house.’ 
There  were  in  1800,  two  thousand  si.x  hundred  and  ninety  tree  colored  people  in  the  State, 
and  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  and  eighty  slaves.  Large  masses  of  these  people 
have  never  known  what  it  is  to  provide  for  themselves.  They  are,  improvident.  They  can, 
in  this  warm  season,  live  off  the  fruits  and  vegetables  of  the  field,  and  sleep  in  the  open 
air;  but  what  will  they  do  when  the  cold  frosts  and  snows  are  upon  us  (for  we  are  having 
snows  of  late  years) Sir,  the  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when  we  must  have  aid  at  hand 
or  they  will  die.  Before  the  war,  we  had  usually  about  six  millions  of  acres  under  cultiva- 
tion ; now,  I judge,  there  are  not  more  than  two  millions,  and  this  is  greatly  parched  and 
dried  up.  The  matter  is  becoming  alarmingly  pressing.” 

The  governor  recognized  the  importance  of  instructing  and  educating  the  colored  people, 
but  cousiders  their  physical  ivants  are  now  the  most  pressing.  — National  Freedman. 


GOVERNOR  PARSONS  OF  AL.VBAMA,  AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE,  NEW  YORK,  NOV.  13,  1865. 

“ The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  emancipated  the  black  people,  and  provided 
by  act  of  Congress,  approved  the  3d  of  March,  for  the  existence  and  organization  of  the 
Freedmen’s  Bureau.  That  bureau,  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  is  in  charge  of  Major-Gen. 
Swayne,  who  reached  there  to  take  charge  of  his  department  at  the  same  time  that  I 
reached  there,  charged,  under  the  commission  of  the  President,  with  establishing  a civil 
provisional  government  for  the  State.  In  a short  time  it  became  apparent  to  the  intelligent 
and  thinking  portion  of  the  people,  and,  ns  fast  as  they  became  acquainted  with  Gen. 
Swayncj  that  impression  became  more  and  more  general,  that  that  bureau,  uuder  his  skil- 
ful administration,  being  a man  of  large  and  comprehensive  views,  and  of  strong  sense  of 
justice,  could  be  the  means,  and  would  be  the  means,  if  the  Government  did  not  discontinue 
It,  of  aiding  those  who  saw  the  necessity  for  aid,  until  we  could  realize,  from  the  fruits  of, 
another  year’s  industry,  the  means  of  subsistence  for  these  people.  As  you  understand, 
that  bureau  is  org.'inized  by  the  Federal  Government;  it  has  its  confidence  ; it  has  all  the 
machinery  in  operation,  ready  now  to  disseminate  or  distribute  material  and  other  aid 

27 


28 


APPENDIX, 


throughout  the  State;  and  it  can  enlarge  its  capacity  of  doing  so  at  pleasure,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  necessity  that  exists  for  it.  It  has  not,  however,  the  means  to  meet  tliese  over- 
whelming demands  upon  its  resources.  While  the  Government  assures  the  bureau  that  it 
is  willing  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  sustain  it  and  render  it  efficient,  there  is  reason  to  ai>pre- 
hend  that  much  will  remain  undone  for  wantof  necessary  means  to  do  it.  You  see  at  once, 
from  wh.at  I have  already  stated,  that  the  means  of  affording  relief,  not  only  to  the  white 
people,  but  to  the  bl.ack  people,  are  w.antiug  materially.  So  far  as  the  blacks  are  concerned, 
an  entire  system  of  relief  is  to  be  inaugurated  from  very  the  foundation ; and  the  question  is. 
Shall  that  be  temporary  in  its  character,  or  shall  it  be  of  such  a description  as  will  insure 
permanency,  and  in  the  future  great  results  to  the  white.  Perhaps  it  is  not  necessary  to  call 
your  attention  at  this  time  to  it,  but  1 cannot  forbear  hinting,  at  least,  at  the  fact  that,  by 
means  of  this  great  organization,  which  has  now  the  support  of  the  powerful  arm  of  the 
Government  to  sustain  it,  there  is  an  opportunity  afforded  for  inaugurating  a sound  and 
efficient  system,  simple,  direct  and  to  the  purpose,  which  will  be  as  lasting  perhaps  as  the 
demands  of  the  race  for  whom  it  was  inaugurated.  [Loud  applause.]  If  this  opportunity  is 
permitted  to  pass  unimproved,  it  will  never  present  itself  again.  It  is  immaterial  what 
may  be  the  color ; when  it  is  furnished  to  them  by  a lieart  moved  to  sympathy  on  account 
of  their  necessities,  they,  I say,  are  well  prepared  to  receive  counsel  in  connection  with  it. 
How  much  can  now  be  done  which  will  in  turn  become  an  instrument  to  produce  other 
effects,  multiplied  for  others  in  future  years.  Aid  to  this  Freedmen’s  Bureau,  therefore,  is 
the  great  object.  I t.ake  it,  which  should  be  striven  for  on  the  part  of  every  one  who  desires 
to  render  efficient  aid.  It  matters  not  whether  he  is  an  individual,  or  whether  he  is  an  in- 
dividual of  a body  having  for  the  objects  of  its  organization  these  great  objects  in  view.  I 
will  say  also,  in  this  connection,  that  it  is  manifest  to  every  one  that  only  in  this  way  can 
the  people  of  that  section  of  the  South  where  the  war  has  been  raging  most  furiously,  and 
where  its  destructive  effects  have  been  made  most  apparent;  it  is  in  this  way  only  that  it 
can  raise  a crop  aiiother  year.  Before  they  can  realize  the  fruits  of  another  year’s  in- 
dustry, this  class  must  starve,  unless  assistance  is  promptly  furnished  tliem.” 

EXTRACT  FROM  A LETTER  FROM  A CLERGYMAN  OF  SOUTH  C.VROLISA  TO  A FRIEND  IN 
NEW  YORK,  UNDER  D.VTE  OF  NOV.  8. 

“ My  great  trouble  now  is  the  want  of  employment,  either  clerical  or  secular.  Will  you 

be  kind  enough,  my  dear  Dr. , to  use  your  influence  in  securing  me  .an  appointment 

under  the  Board  of  Missions  for  the  poor  freedmen  of  the  South  ? lly  ministry  since  ieav- 
ing  the  seminary,  has  been  exclusively  to  the  colored  race  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina, 
and  I am  glad  to  be  able  to  say  that  my  mission  was  regarded  by  the  bishop  as  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  in  the  diocese.  My  church  building  has,  I believe,  escaped  destruction; 
but  it  will  need  some  repairs,  as  it  has  been  left  vacant  since  1800.  The  congregation  was 
dispersed  by  the  near  approach  of  the  Federal  army  ; but  since  the  emancipation  of  our 
shaves,  thousands  of  freedmen  h.ave  congregated  on  the  Sea  Islands,  where  the  rivers  afford 
them  cheap  and  easy  living;  and  now  there  are  thousands  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Af- 
rica around  my  church,  my  vacant  church,  ready  to  hear  the  word  of  God;  but,  alas!  the 
pastor  whose  voice  once  sounded  forth  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  the  poor  negro  is 
far  away  ; and  the  only  sound  now  heard  around  that  once  favored  spot  is  the  sighing  of 
wind  througli  the  lofty  pines.  My  longing  desire  is  to  return  and  reorganize  my  church 
for  the  ])oor  blacks,  who  are  not  able  at  present  to  pay  one  cent  for  the  gospel ; neither 
are  their  former  owners.  And  I am  literally  penniless,  and  not  able  to  return  to  my 
native  isle.  I therefore  make  this  appeal  for  the  poor  freedmen  as  well  as  myself,  that,  by 
the  help  of  the  church,  I may  be  able  to  bring  order  out  of  confusion.  Believe  me,  my 
dear  sir,  that  if  the  Board  of  Missions  intend  doing  any  thing  for  these  poor  people, 
who  are  fast  declining  into  the  grossest  immorality,  they  cannot  act  too  soon  in  this  matter. 
There  are  at  this  time  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  of  them  without  a siugle  authorized 
teacher  among  them.  Some  of  my  former  congregation  have  expressed  the  hope  that  I 
will  return  and  re-establish  the  church  for  them;  but  here  I am,  unable  to  pay  my  way 
home,  or  even  purchase  food  and  clothing  for  my.sclf  were  I able  to  re.ich  home.  I am  now 
staying  with  a friend  whose  house  I assisted  to  save  during  the  great  conflagration.  I men- 
tion these  things  to  show  you  the  true  state  of  the  case  in  reference  to  the  missionaries  to 
colored  congregations.” 


TEACHERS. 


Applications  of  teachers  are  hereafter  to  be  made  to  Rev. 
J.  Brinton  Smith,  D.D.,  General  Agent,  No.  10  Bible  Rooms, 
New  York. 


REMITTANCES. 

All  remittances  of  funds  to  be  made  to  Robert  B.  Min- 
TDRN,  Esq.  (GrinneU,  Minturn,  & Co.),  New  York. 


SUPPLIES  FOR  THE  FREEDMEN. 

As  frequent  communications  are  received  by  the  Secretary, 
inquiring  what  kind  of  supplies  are  needed  for  the  Freedmen, 
it  has  been  thought  best  to  answer  such  inquiries  briefly  by 
circular. 

1.  Cast  off  clothing,  for  old  and  young  of  both  sexes,  in- 
cluding hats,  caps,  shoes,  socks,  and,  in  fine,  outer  and  under 
g-arinents  of  every  description^  also,  bedquilts,  blankets, 
sheets,  &c. 

2.  New  clothing  and  bedding.  The  material  should  be 
plain  but  substantial.  Garments  for  women  and  children  es- 
pecially may  be  made  of  gray  and  blue  flannels  (such  as  have 
been  used  for  soldiers’  shirts),  denims,  and  heavy  unbleached 
cotton. 

3.  Material  for  clothing  and  bedding,  and  all  things  required 
in  the  manutacture  of  the  same,  such  as  needles,  thread,  but- 
tons, hooks  and  eyes,  knitting  needles,  yarn,  scissors,  &c. 

4.  Slates  and  pencils,  school  books,  old  Sunday  school 
books,  and  books  for  general  reading. 

The  barrel  or  box  (the  former  is  preferable),  used  for  pack- 
ing, should  be  numbered  and  forwarded  to  the  Rev.  J.  Brin- 
ton Smith,  D.D.,  Bible  House,  New  York.  A list  of  articles 
sent,  as  well  as  the  number  of  the  barrel  or  box  containing 
them,  should  be  enclosed  in  a letter,  to  the  same  address. 

It  is  earnestly  recommended  to  clergymen  to  send  an  ex- 
press WAGON  through  their  PARISHES  TO  COLLECT  CAST-OFF 
CLOTHING,  TO  BE  DISTRIBUTIID  THROUGH  THIS  AGENCY. 

29 


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